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{
    "id": 455358,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/455358/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 155,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "(3) If Parliament is not sitting during the time contemplated in clause (2), or is sitting but adjourns before the approval has been sought, the approval shall be sought within two weeks after it next sits.” What I am trying to raise is that the Supplementary Budget is only necessary if the national Government realizes that they have overspent on a particular budget line. It is not just a matter of routine. It is not a matter of tradition. It is a matter that needs to be done with caution because now this Constitution contemplates that Parliament is a Budget making body and the Treasury is just preparing the estimates. Once Parliament does the Budget, it should be respected; it should be honoured for consistency and also for economic stability. Therefore, I am sure that much of what we have been asked to approve are amounts that have not been spent. But what does the law say? The law says that the Supplementary Appropriations only become necessary if the money has actually been spent. But what we are going to do as a House is to approve money to spend; some of which will be spent in April, May and June. That is something to look into in future. For the time being, I believe that we can proceed the way we are proceeding currently. One thing I have noticed in our budgeting process is that the Treasury has not adopted the programme- based budget and I think my Chair spoke to this. If we did that, then we would not have instances where we have so many Ministries asking for budget adjustments because then before we approve the Budget, we know exactly what we expect from the amounts we are allocating. What I have a feeling of is that what we are doing is incremental budget. We need to stop this as a country. I know that the Budget Committee is going to strive to actualize that but I think it is high time that the Treasury is advised to start thinking of programme-based budget where we link the budget to deliverables and specific output targets. Another thing that I notice when you look at this Supplementary Budget requests is that we have a problem with absorbing donor funds. This has been there previously; it has continued and probably will continue in the future. If we are going to come up with a Budget factoring donor funds and then we do not actualize it, then we are hurting economic growth because the economy will not be--- The word is disappearing from my head! Hon. Speaker, we are supposed to engineer economic growth so that the country can move forward. All the economic projections, the revenue projections, the projections of ordinary revenue are all dependent on full absorption of the budgetary amount and, therefore, if we are not going to absorb the donor funds, then you are hurting the economy in a big way. If the problem is the way we account for donor funds and that is why we cannot get the money in good time, I think we need to give capacity to that 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."
}