Uhuru admits budget process ignored law

Treasury has admitted that it did not fully adhere to the Constitution by failing to submit the estimates of the Sh1.155 trillion budget to parliament for scrutiny two months before the end of the financial year.

“We may not have lived to the strict letter of the Constitution with regard to the timelines but more than other institutions, we at Treasury have nonetheless operated in the spirit of the new Constitution,” Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta said on Thursday.

Mr Kenyatta had been expected to present this year’s Budget estimates to the Parliamentary Budget Committee, but did not, sparking outrage with MPs swearing to block him from reading the Budget next week.

However, the minister said he finally presented the estimates to the committee on May 31.

And with this, he however asked parliament to consider deferring the interrogation of the estimates of Kenya's largest ever budget in history from the required two months before the end of the financial year to after the budget speech.

Planned

The budget speech has already been slated for June 8 with Mr Kenyatta insisting that it will go on as planned.

“The budget speech is the culmination of the entire budget making process but in itself, it is not the budget… the budget is contained in the estimates. The speech simply highlights the key areas of focus that would be of public interest,” he said.

In defending his failure to table the estimates as stipulated by the new Constitution, the minister said the budget making process was not as simple as many think. It usually takes between 10 and 11 months.

“We started this process after the promulgation of the new Constitution…given the length of the time it takes to formulate the budget, there probably should have been transitional clauses due to the fact that the budget date had been moved forward by two months,” he said.

Speaking at a meeting at Nairobi’s Continental House earlier this week, MPs said Mr Kenyatta ought to be reprimanded for breaching the Constitution by not submitting the estimates as stipulated in the Constitution.

Highlights of the Budgetary Proposals

1. Ksh 1.315 Billion for construction of water harvesting systems in 10 primary schools per constituency at a cost of Ksh 250,000 per school.
2. Ksh 840 Million to provide bursaries for 200 additional poor/orphaned children per constituency at a cost of Ksh 20,000 per child.
3. Ksh 1.1 Billion for construction of 15 water harvesting pans (100,000 Cubic Metres capacity) for each non-ASAL constituency at a cost of Ksh 800,000 each
4. Ksh 1.05 Billion for construction of 20 water harvesting pans (100,000 Cubic Metres capacity) for each ASAL constituency at a cost of Ksh 1.5 Million each
5. Ksh 210 Million to establish a digital village in each constituency
6. Additional Kshs 1 Billion for the second phase of funding for the Small and Medium Enterprises program
7. Ksh 1.3 Billion for expanding irrigation by 11,000 acres in existing schemes, Ksh 4.3 Billion to bring new irrigation schemes covering 16,000 acres and Ksh 600 Million to design 91,000 new irrigation schemes.
8. Ksh 135 Million to implement cold storage facilities in 120 constituencies to compliment the successes realized when we introduced fish ponds in the 2009/2010 budget under the Economic Stimulus Package.
9. Ksh 385 Million to expand coverage from 10 to 30 households for the Disabled Persons safety net program, Ksh 260 Million to expand the Orphans and Vulnerable Children safety net from 60 to 72 Districts, Ksh 240 Million to expand the cash transfer for senior citizens from 44 to 72 Districts, Ksh 230 Million to adjust benefits from Ksh 1,500 to Ksh 2,000 for the same
10. Ksh 845 Million for the purchase of 2 gunny bags per household for farming in the slum areas.
11. Ksh 300 Million to purchase sanitary pads for girls in primary schools across the country
12. Ksh 100 Million to develop child protection system and give support to children institutions
13. Ksh 5.53 Billion to extend a grant of Ksh 15 Million per constituency to complete ongoing projects and cover CDF projects arrears amounting to Ksh 1.8 Billion
14. Ksh 2 Billion capital grant to co-operative societies to clear outstanding coffee debts.
15. Ksh 1.85 Billion to expand and/or modernize commuter rail services, Ksh 1 Billion to upgrade Thika-Nairobi Commuter rail and Ksh 3.25 Billion for the Mombasa-Malaba standard gauge railway.
16. Ksh 4.157 Billion for the final resettlement of IDP’s.
17. Ksh 3.34 Billion for the payment of pension dues for retired teachers between 1997 and 2003.
18. Ksh 5.5 Billion for preparation of the 2012 General Election
19. KShs. 1.15 billion for Police Recruitment.

Sector Allocations

Mr Kenyatta said the FY2011/12 Budget has provided an overall increase of Ksh. 131.5 billion in funding to all sectors with the following sectors recording significant increases in funding:

1. Physical Infrastructure - Allocations went up by Kshs. 55.6 billion from KSh.165.8B in FY2010/11 to KSh. 221.4B in FY2011/12
2. Public Administration & International Relations - We have increased allocations to the Public Administration and International Relations sector by KSh. 35.4 billion from KSh. 77.5b in the last financial year to KSh. 112.9b in the FY2011/12.
3. Governance, Justice, Law and Order - Allocations increased by KShs. 22.8 billion from (from KSh. 98.7b in FY2010/11 to KSh. 121.5b in FY2011/12)
4. Human Resource Development - Increased allocations by KShs 13.2 billion. (from KSh. 201.7b in FY2010/11 to KSh. 21.9b in FY2011/12)
5. Research, Innovation and Technology - allocations increased by KShs. KSh. 9.6 billion (from KSh. 65.8b in FY2010/11 to 75.5b in FY2011/12).
6. Environment, water and Sanitation - Allocations have increased by KShs. 6.6 billion (from KSh. 50b in FY2010/11 to KSh. 56.9b in FY2011/12).