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{
    "id": 41919,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/41919/?format=api",
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    "content": "mandated to extend the period within which the Estimates may be submitted to the House? A delay in such a situation is highly regrettable and must be strenuously avoided. But if, despite every effort, it does occur, I think that the obligation at Article 3 on every person to respect, uphold and defend the Constitution would demand that the person responsible for the delay or other failure seizes every available means to repair and mitigate that delay or failure. It is gratifying that in the present matter, the delay in submitting the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure has at least been mitigated by the fact that as we speak, these Estimates have already been submitted to the House. Hon. Members, the question of whether or not to have a Budget Speech in the form and style that all Kenyans have been accustomed to since Independence has been raised. On the one hand, the argument has been made that the spirit and provisions of the new Constitution, including the reforms in the budget making and approval process, leave no room for a Budget Speech and the attendant fanfare and ceremony. By this account, a Budget Day, if any, is the day when the Minister submits his tax proposals to the House and subsequently publishes a Finance Bill for introduction in the House and the debate on this Financial Statement is under the provision of Standing Orders No.147 and 148. Support is found for this proposition in the precedent set on 22nd March, 2011 when the House reconvened for the continuation of the Fourth Session in a Special Sitting, foregoing some of the traditional events associated with the State Opening of Parliament on the occasion of a new session. Another point of view and, indeed, some hon. Members have argued so, is that the reading of the Budget and any accompanying ceremony are not inconsistent or incompatible with the Constitution. The answer may lie somewhere in between. It commences with an appreciation that the Budget Speech is, as it were, an outline of the state of the economy and the financial environment that the country is operating in. The Budget indicates the total expenditure and key areas earmarked by the Government for the raising of funds. This aspect roughly corresponds with the budget policy statement submitted to the House in the month of March this year. The second part of the Budget Speech normally concentrates on the measures that the Minister intends to employ to address taxation and the effect thereof on various forms of investment or business in the country. It further covers those measures which the Government seeks to employ to raise all the required finances, including action to bridge any deficits. It may be argued that it is this part of what is traditionally the Budget Speech which is presently outstanding and which is important to propound as it has an impact on our partnership in the East African Community. This has no doubt instructed the argument that it is a constitutional imperative that our Budget be not only read, but also that it be read on the same day as those of the other partner States. This last proposition may be desirable, perhaps even prudent, but it certainly does not rise to a constitutional dictate. Article 2(6) of the Constitution does not subordinate the Constitution of Kenya and our laws to our treaty obligations. It requires that our treaty obligations form part of our law under our Constitution. The effect of this is to make it the obligation of the State to ensure that we not only meet our treaty obligations, including those under the treaty for the East African Community but also that we do so without violation of our own Constitution. Indeed, Article 2(6) is in my view, so worded as to try to avoid the possibility of such conflict."
}