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{
    "id": 438698,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/438698/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 202,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Report. The Committee decided to sit even late and we just had three sittings to be sure that the Report was ready and this we did purely to help also show by example that as a Committee of Parliament responsible for Budget, we are conscious about expenditure. This Committee also did its Report in Nairobi to ensure that we set an example even to other Committees of Parliament that reports of committees can be done in Nairobi and you do not have to travel out of Nairobi to do a report. We are today considering the Report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, in line with the requirements of Article 221 of the Constitution and also in line with Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, Section 39. This House is now a budget-making institution and is no longer a budget-approving institution as it used to be before the 2010 Constitution. Once we approve the Estimates today, the Treasury will be required by law to consolidate, publish and publicize the approved estimates not later than 21 days after the approval by the National Assembly as spelt out under Section 39(5) of the PFM Act. The Treasury should know that whatever will be passed in this House, if it is done this afternoon or this evening they have only 21 days from today to consolidate, publish and publicize as per requirements by law. Now, allow me to go into a little detail about the Report and also mostly about the budget estimates. In the interest of time, I will just point out the key areas that I think are of concern to this country. First of all, there is disconnect between House resolutions on the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) and the Budget Estimates. Section 25 of the PFM Act requires that Parliament, and in this case National Assembly, to approve Budget Policy Statement prepared by Treasury and approved by the Cabinet which document sets out broad strategic priorities and policy goals, besides the proposed expenditure limits for the national Government, Parliament and Judiciary and indicative transfers to the county governments among other vital micro-economic forecasts. Section 25(8) of the same Act states as follows:- “The Cabinet Secretary shall take into account resolutions passed by Parliament in finalising the budget for the relevant year.” Most of the resolutions of the House, for the benefit of this House, were ignored by the Cabinet Secretary. This House should not legislate in vain. Two is the issue of programme-based budgeting even though the Treasury has attempted to adopt programme-based budgeting, which we have been calling for over the years. The Treasury has failed to do the following one, adhere to Section 38 of the PFM Act, 2012 and more particularly Section 38(1)(b)(vi) by not indicating the sources of funding per programme in the 2014/2015 programme-based Budget. Actually, the requirement of that particular provision is that you not only indicate the programmes that you want to finance but even specific sources of funds for each and every programme. We hope that in the next financial year, we will have details of this. Two, new programmes were introduced and some which were already there were removed, bringing to light a clear disconnect between what was provided for in the budget policy and expenditure priorities and this is a reflection of poor planning in the budget-making process. One would expect the Treasury to be very clear on how they plan the affairs of this country. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}