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"id": 1440039,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Teso South, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mary Emaase",
"speaker": null,
"content": "projects are completed. The amendments also capture the Board’s expenditure of the Ksh326 million. The published Bill omitted that. They further differentiate the Act from the Equalisation Fund Appropriation Act of 2023 for financial years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, enacted in June 2023. That is the import of the amendments. Our Budget and Appropriations Committee observed, while considering the Equalisation Fund Appropriations Bill, as amended by the Senate; that, while the Bill intends to appropriate a total of Ksh10.87 billion to the Fund, the money available in the approved Supplementary Estimates of 2023/2024 is Ksh10.077 billion. This translates to a shortfall of Ksh790 billion, a budgetary reduction undertaken due to a significant delay in the passage of the Bill into law. That caused resource constraints because of revenue under performance. The Committee noted that it would be a challenge to reinstate this amount into the Budget. Secondly, the Equalisation Fund Appropriation Act of 2023 did not appropriate or allocate the Ksh10.33 billion in the Supplementary Estimates II. That is the allocation for 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 Financial Years even though the Act is already in place. This is despite a commitment from the National Treasury to allocate this amount in the Supplementary Budget for 2023/2024 Financial Year, after the allocation was revised to zero in Supplementary Estimates II of the 2022/2023 Financial Year. Thirdly, the Committee observed that the total allocation to the Fund as approved by Parliament since its inception is Ksh22.7 billion. That is against a total entitlement of Ksh62.4 billion to the Fund. Thus, there are arrears of Ksh39.7 billion. The Budget and Appropriations Committee urges the National Treasury to adhere to the plan it presented to Parliament. The plan indicated that the arrears would be cleared in four financial years, starting with the 2024/2025 Financial Year, with an allocation of Ksh9.98 billion in each financial year. Notably, the National Treasury allocated Ksh3.5 billion as arrears to the Fund in the 2024/2025 Financial Year; not Ksh9.98 billion as earlier committed. The Committee noted that the allocation in the Equalisation Fund Appropriation Bill of 2023 for the 2023/2024 Financial Year will be utilised to implement the second marginalisation policy. However, the second policy lapsed in June 2021. The third policy is yet to be implemented. Considering the above matters, the Committee recommends: Non-financial recommendations 1. That, by 30th September 2024, the National Treasury submits to Parliament a revised plan for clearance of arrears of the Equalisation Fund. 2. Within six months upon adoption of this report, the Commission on Revenue Allocation in consultation with relevant stakeholders submits the third marginalisation policy recommendations to Parliament pursuant to Article 216(5) of the Constitution. Financial recommendations 1. Having examined the Equalisation Fund Appropriation Bill (No.2) of 2023 vis-à- vis the current fiscal framework, the Committee recommends that this House approves the Bill with amendments as proposed in the attached Schedule. With those remarks, I beg to move and request Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu to second."
}