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{
    "id": 714929,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/714929/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 184,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Musyimi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 95,
        "legal_name": "Mutava Musyimi",
        "slug": "mutava-musyimi"
    },
    "content": "finalisation of the Budget. As I said earlier on, this brings into question the credibility and, indeed, the integrity of the budget-making process, particularly the role of the Legislature as we seek to impact and influence strategic direction of the country in the budget-making function that we have. My Committee is concerned on the current structure of the medium-term expenditure framework sector working groups and recommends that an oversight sector working group be established to ensure that there is adequate participation in the budget-making process and the principle of separation of powers is adhered to. The national Government, through the National Treasury, is mainly divided into sectors when they are debating and discussing the Budget each year before the BPS comes to us. We have noticed that sufficient attention has not been given by the Executive arm of the Government with respect to key oversight institutions which include Parliament, Office of the Auditor-General, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Office of the Controller of Budget. We have raised this matter with the National Treasury. Yesterday, more or less, I had a lengthy discussion on this matter. We hope the National Treasury will review its own architecture or structures when it comes to the sector working groups, so that we have a cluster of institutions whose main and key role is oversight. We recommend that, that matter be looked at seriously by the National Treasury. My Committee requests this House to adopt this Report along these lines. That the deficit fiscal balance for commitment basis excluding grants be limited to no more than Kshs500 billion, namely, 6 per cent of the GDP in the Financial Year 2017/2018 as opposed to proposed Kshs582.4 billion, namely, 7 per cent of the GDP and thereafter be reduced to Kshs450 billion, which is 4.9 per cent of the GDP in Financial Year 2018/2019 and Kshs400 billion, which is 4 per cent of the GDP in Financial Year 2019/2020. These numbers have been arrived at based on the need to intensify measures to reduce leakage in the public sector, which is estimated at 20 to 30 per cent taking into consideration the low absorption capacities in particular for the projects that are externally funded. We also propose that the ceilings of each arm of the Government for the Financial Year 2017/2018 be capped as follows: Parliament - Kshs36 billion, Judiciary - Kshs18 billion and the Executive - Kshs1.468 trillion. What may not be apparent to you in those figures is that yesterday we negotiated and arrived at a raised ceiling for Parliament. We managed to add an extra five billion from the Kshs31 billion or so that had been made available in the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) that was being debated by the Committees. We also gave the Office of the Auditor-General an extra Kshs1 billion. We would have liked to do a bit more so that these oversight institutions, as we said earlier, are given the kind of support that the country needs. We recommend that in effecting the proposed ceilings for each arm of the Government, the National Treasury should take into consideration the recommendations of the Departmental Committees on specific Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), which are in the First Schedule. This is important. When the National Treasury comes to look at the Estimates, we repeat that it should look at the recommendations of the Committees. This is because Committees put in a lot of time and it is very important that the National Treasury interacts and engages with them in order to benefit from these very useful recommendations. We recommend that the allocations to county governments for the Financial Year 2017/2018, which will form the basis of the Division of Revenue Bill, be as follows: County Government equitable share of Kshs291.1362 billion and conditional allocations for the national Government equitable share of revenue as follows: conditional allocation for leasing of medical equipment of Kshs4.7 billion, conditional allocation for compensation for user fees foregone of 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."
}