It was a printing error, Treasury says of scandalous estimates

A lobby group wants the joint Kenya Parliamentary team inquiring into a discrepancy in the Supplementary Budget Estimates passed by the House to extend the probe to the national budget, currently under preparation.

The group, which sounded the alarm over the accuracy of the estimates, insists that the amount in dispute is Sh9.6 billion and not Sh9.2 billion as suggested by the Ministry of Finance.

Partnership for Change claims that, apart from the Sh9.6 billion, there are over Sh4.89 billion inserted into the budget through new budget line items which were not approved by Parliament in June 2008.
In a submission to the Parliamentary investigating team on Friday, the group is questioning documents of accounts being prepared by Ministry of Finance officials, and doubts whether they are true and meet proper accounting standards.

The lobby group’s submission to the committee follows events in Parliament last week, when the Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta presented the Sh9.2 billion supplementary budget estimates.

National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende, following an inquiry by Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara, referred the matter to the Parliamentary committees of Finance and Budget.

Possible fraud

Mr Imanyara had questioned the estimates, indicating possible fraud.

Treasury has since admitted a printing error, but insisted that spending figures had not been tampered with.

The lobby group, which runs the budget campaign through the Mars Group, defended its reputation, insisting that the Minister’s figures do not add up.

“On the basis of his own documents as the Minister for Finance, the question is: Are Kenyans satisfied that the documents of account being prepared by the Ministry officials are true and meet proper accounting standards?” the group states in its submission.

“All these matters require a longer probe than the short one you have embarked on, and we are sure the public would appreciate your solidarity in demanding that Treasury and the Ministry of Finance are accountable to Parliament,” said group officials Jane Mati, Cyprian Nyamwamu and Mwalimu Mati.

Their recommendations to the Parliamentary team were that a forensic audit of the budget for 2008/2009 is necessary as material inconsistencies noted indicate a likelihood that public funds could have been misapplied.

Said the group: “The computer or printing error explanation is dubious and probably false. It does not address the doubt inherent in the Speaker’s initial order establishing this enquiry.”

Adding: “In fact, computers and printing machines do not make errors — no accounting software exists that, if properly used, could produce such an error.”

Critical spending

In the wake of recent events, Parliament has been advised to only approve urgent critical and priority spending during the next phase of supplementary appropriation, and to let the rest await the national budget to be laid before the House in June.

The lobby group has urged the committees to request President Kibaki to assent to the Fiscal Management Bill, noting that this will reduce the monopoly over budgeting currently held by Treasury.