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{
    "id": 965062,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/965062/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 398,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "that we are one thing. We are not one thing. We are different. The two of us, together with the Budget and Appropriations Committee, must be more engaged in the budget process to move together with the national Treasury so that this country is saved from this kind of knee-jerk reaction or response to the budget-making process. Another key concern, as we discuss these Supplementary Estimates, is the National Treasury decision of not respecting the other two arms of Government when it comes to resource allocation. The people of Kenya decided to make the budgets of Parliament and the Judiciary independent from the Executive’s control. The National Treasury seems to imagine that Parliament and the Judiciary are just like any other agencies within the Executive and as such, they can revise the budgets of these two arms of Government arbitrarily without consultations and even go ahead and effect the changes on the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS) which is illegal. I want to talk to our friend the CS, Ukur Yatani. He is a new broom. Let us make sure that the National Treasury respects the two arms of Government as the Constitution stipulates. It should respect the Articles which guide the budgeting for Parliament and that of the Judiciary. Let me remind the National Treasury that the three arms of Government are equal and must be treated so when it comes to allocation of resources. This is the only way to guarantee an effective Government which works seamlessly for public good. Again, regrettably, the National Treasury has continued with the trend of flouting the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act regarding supplementary budgets. For instance, quite a number of allocations for programmes which various agencies are implementing have been adjusted by more than 10 per cent which is against the law. The justification that we got from the National Treasury was that the Attorney-General advised that the 10 per cent should affect the total budget and not the various budget lines. The PFM rules and regulations are very clear that on each programme being implemented, you cannot adjust through a supplementary budget or supplementary budgets by more than 10 per cent, either upwards or downwards. The excuse that it is the AG does not fly. The AG is not supposed to write the laws of this country. The AG is supposed to interpret and help us understand the laws, especially where they are not clear. Where they are clear, there is no need to seek the AG’s opinion. A number of new projects have been introduced which grossly undermine the principles of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). To make it worse, the National Treasury has not given an indication on how the additional expenditure will be financed as required by the law. This begs the question on whether the National Treasury is keen on fully implementing the provisions of the law relating to public finance. From the look of things, it seems the National Treasury is partially and not wholly endeavouring to implement PFM laws, yet what is required of them is to follow to the letter the provisions of the statutes. Let me warn the National Treasury that this House will not approve anything contained in the Supplementary Estimates which is contrary to the provisions of the law. The Committee was and is still concerned about the impact of a high-deficit budget especially under the prevailing economic environment. I have spoken to that. I do not want to belabour the point. The Committee has tried to rationalise the Supplementary Budget further in order to reduce the deficit."
}