Budget figures correct, says House team

A parliamentary committee has dismissed claims of more errors in the revised Supplementary Budget.

However, the man on the spot, Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta, remained silent over the issue for the third day running.

On Wednesday, Mr Kenyatta, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, joked that he hoped his speech to the Eurofinance conference did not have typing errors.

He was speaking at the Laico Regency hotel where finance experts from across Africa were meeting to discuss the global economic crunch.

The Budget Oversight Committee told a press conference that there were no errors in the eight items contested by an independent watchdog group, the Mars Group, which had several weeks ago pointed out that there had been errors in the initial supplementary budget estimates.

The committee gave the freshly printed Supplementary Budget numbers a clean bill of health. Vice-chairman Julius Kones was however taken to task by some reporters over the absence of chairman Martin Ogindo.

But he insisted that the verdict had been agreed on by the entire committee after examining the claims by the Mars Group and finding no error.

Mr Kenyatta only said that he would remain steadfast in the face of scrutiny facing his office.

Only last week, he withdrew the supplementary budget brought earlier in Parliament and tabled a fresh one after it was proved that the documents contained discrepancies of over Sh10 billion.

But on Sunday, the Mars Group claimed that even the new documents had discrepancies.

Mr Kenyatta has remained silent on the issue since. On Wednesday, he said that sometimes it was good for one to be silent and act more instead of engaging in empty rhetoric.

Positive mark

Speaking during the inaugural Eurofinance conference in East Africa, Mr Kenyatta said he was determined to leave a positive mark at the Finance ministry where he has served since January.

“I will do my part during my stint at Treasury, which some are trying to reduce, be it one day, two or three days,” Mr Kenyatta said.

Sponsored by among others Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Citi and Africapractice, the conference on Cash and Treasury Management in Africa attracted the who is who in business in the region.