Uhuru admits budget process breached law

By NATION TEAM, newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, June 2 2011 at 22:39

Treasury has admitted that it flouted the Constitution by failing to submit the Budget estimates to Parliament for scrutiny two months before the end of the financial year.

Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta had been expected to present this year’s Budget estimates to the Parliamentary Budget Committee, but did not, sparking outrage among MPs.

“We may not have lived to the strict letter of the Constitution with regard to the timelines, but more than other institutions, we at Treasury have nonetheless operated in the spirit of the new Constitution,” Mr Kenyatta said Thursday.

But he told journalists at his Treasury Building office that the Budget speech would be read as planned.

“The Budget speech is the culmination of the entire budget-making process but in itself, is not the Budget…the Budget is contained in the estimates. The speech simply highlights the key areas of focus that would be of public interest,” he said.

The minister explained it was not possible to present the estimates to Parliament early due to the time required to prepare the Budget.

Mr Kenyatta spoke as the Cabinet managed to go round the tough provisions in the Constitution to pave way for the Budget speech next Wednesday.

The ministers agreed that the new procedure, which requires Treasury to submit the estimates two months prior to the Budget speech, would start applying after the 2012 general election.

“The Cabinet was unanimous that the provisions relevant to the presentation of the Budget under the new Constitution will be strictly applicable after the next general election,” read a Presidential Press Service statement.

The meeting at State House, Nairobi, was chaired by President Kibaki and attended by Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Sources said to avoid hostility from MPs who had vowed to block Mr Kenyatta from reading the Budget, PNU and ODM would hold meetings with their MPs to pacify them.

At the same time, House Budget Committee chairman Elias Mbau said Budget estimates would be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

Mr Mbau said the Budget estimates would be presented to Parliament once his committee had gone through them.