Thursday, June 21, 2012

Githae bows to MPs pressure, withdraws PFM Bill


Githae bows to MPs pressure, withdraws PFM Bill

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Finance minister Njeru Githae has been forced to withdraw the Public Financial Management Bill from the House after MPs complained they did not get time to go through the Treasury's proposals  June 21, 2012. FILE
Finance minister Njeru Githae has been forced to withdraw the Public Financial Management Bill from the House after MPs complained they did not get time to go through the Treasury's proposals June 21, 2012. FILE  
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, June 21  2012 at  12:52
Finance minister Njeru Githae has been forced to withdraw the Public Financial Management Bill from the House after MPs said they needed more time go through the Treasury's proposals.
In the extra-ordinary Thursday morning sitting--Parliament does not sit on Thursday morning—the lawmakers refused to discuss the proposed changes saying that the minister had “ambushed” them with the changes.
The chairman of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) Abdikadir Mohammed, and the chairman of the Finance Committee Chris Okemo, prevailed on the Deputy Leader of Government Business Amos Kimunya and Mr Githae to shelve the proposals.
With the help of temporary chair Ekwee Ethuro (Turkana Central), the backbenchers had their day and forced the Finance minister into an impromptu meeting.
“It is in the interest of the country and in the interest of the Ministry of Finance that we should engage sufficiently. We should not spend too much time in this House dealing with conflicting amendments,” said Mr Okemo.
The MPs said that because they had sat the whole day and half the night on Wednesday, and because the House was once again sitting on Thursday morning, they had not gone through the amendments and the Treasury was likely to sneak in something that might stifle the devolution of power and resources to the county governments.
“We don’t want to get it wrong. The Public Financial Management Bill is going to be the life-blood of the county governments and the devolution process. It is crucial that this Bill is interrogated with a toothcomb,” said Martin Ogindo (Rangwe).
John Mbadi (Gwasi) rejected the move saying that if MPs had read and understood the Bill, then they won’t find it difficult to understand whatever changes that the minister may want Parliament to adopt.
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The suspicion of the MPs on the Treasury’s intent on the devolution Bill arose following the long-running tiff between the Treasury and the Ministry of Local Government on the proposals in the PFM Bill, and that’s why MPs want to know if the Treasury is trying to sneak in the changes.

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