It is not mandatory for Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta to alter the budget and reallocate resources are recommended by the Budget Committee, Speaker Kenneth Marende has ruled.
The Speaker yesterday appeared to give Treasury a smooth sailing in Parliament after ruling that the minister was free to differ implementing any of the resolutions of the Budget Committee.
Marende ruled that the report prepared by the Budget Committee and endorsed by Parliament in July proposing budget cuts for certain ministries in this year’s budget should be treated as a motion which does not compel the minister to adopt in total. “Some resolutions of the budget committee have to be deferred to another date,” ruled the Speaker.
He said the country was in a transition period making it impossible to implement to the letter some of the provisions in the constitution guiding the budget making process.
Marende delivered the ruling after several MPs challenged the Executive saying it was unconstitutional to ask MPs to debate and pass Estimates of Recurrent and Development Expenditure for the 2011/2012 financial year.
The MPs, led by John Mbadi (Gwasi) argued that the Budget Committee collected views from Kenyans where the committee prepared a report with various alterations to the budget presented in June by Uhuru. The MPs said Treasury was now bound by all the resolutions contained in the report.
Lawmakers said the government could not introduce a motion on Estimates of Recurrent and Development Expenditure which does not encompass the resolutions of the Budget Committee. “It is unconstitutional for the House to debate and pass figures yet budget committee had prepared a report which was passed on the same,” said Mbadi. He wanted the debate on the budget estimates at the Committee of Supply stifled. Once debated at the Committee of Supply stage, the government gets Parliament’s approval to incur expenditure.
Mbadi said the new constitution had ushered in a new era in budget making which ought to be respected. He said the committee had set aside cash for employing the intern teachers. “We either go back to the old constitution which we discarded or we follow the new constitution to the letter,” said the MP.
In its report, the committee after collecting views altered Uhuru’s budget and saved about Sh13 billion which it wanted to be used to boost several sectors which it said had been ignored by the finance minister.
The committee had in its report agreed that Sh2 billion Treasury had set aside as budget reserves be diverted for other urgent matters. The committee has also recommended that a further Sh2 billion Treasury had allocated itself as cash for financial services be diverted.
Also raided was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the committee chopped off Sh206 million meant for foreign travel and subsistence. Budget for printing, advertising and information supplies had also been reduced by 50 per cent netting an extra Sh1 billion.
The committee had also proposed that allocations for hospitality supplies and services be cut by 25 per cent to create a saving another Sh1 billion.
No comments:
Post a Comment