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    "id": 294240,
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    "content": "cannot do it through rules and regulations. This proposal by the Treasury in this Bill to have such a task being carried out through regulations is uncceptable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also wanted to talk about the same Section 12(2) parts (c) and (d) where it talks about the role of the Treasury. That it is to “co- ordinate the preparation of annual appropriation accounts and other statutory financial reports by the national government and its entities”. If you look at the Constitution clearly, you will realise that this is now a function of Parliament. It is supposed to come out. Once the Executive has prepared the Estimates, that is the end of it. All the other functions of the Appropriation Bill should now come to Parliament. Part (d) says “prepare annual estimates of revenue of the national government and co-ordinate the preparation and adoption of the budget of the national government”. There is no way you can have the Treasury co-ordinate adoption of the Budget because that is the work of Parliament. I think the Treasury needs to understand that they have no way of co-ordinating adoption of the report. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is a particular provision in this Bill that I feel this House needs to give a lot of attention. That is Section 17(6) and (7). It states, “The Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council shall agree on a framework for the preparation and rationalization of cash flow projections---” If you allow the cash flow projections to be determined from elsewhere - if you do not provide for cash to flow directly to the counties - there are high chances that you will starve counties of resources. This is a provision that needs to be removed. This is a provision that is likely to be against the provisions of our Constitution with regard to devolution. I also wanted to address Section 37. This is a very interesting one. If you look at this particular Section, 37(2), you will find that it gives the procedure for preparing the Budget. This is where I have had a problem with the Ministry of Finance ever since this Constitution came into effect. It says “The Cabinet Secretary shall submit to the National Assembly, by 30th April in that year the following documents- (a) the budget estimates excluding those for Parliament and Judiciary; (b) documents supporting the submitted estimates; (c) the Appropriation Bill---“ You cannot table before Parliament both the estimates and the Appropriation Bill. What you are then telling us is that the consideration by the Budget Committee and Parliament is just but ceremonial. This is because once you have the Appropriation Bill, how then would we be able, as a Parliament, to change the estimates? Therefore, this provision that the Cabinet Secretary will submit the Appropriation Bill is unconstitutional and it should not be brought at this stage. The Appropriation Bill comes much later after Parliament has discussed, adopted and approved the budget estimates. That also goes for sub-section 3(a) that says “submit to the National Assembly the budget estimates for Parliament, including proposed appropriations”. In my view, this is trying to retain the powers that the Executive has at the moment. I see the Executive suffering from hung-over and trying to retain the powers. The Treasury wants to retain the powers that have already been delegated to Parliament. I think it is important, as a Parliament, to take note of this and act appropriately."
}