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.

Mr Kenyatta who opened the conference said: “We should stop looking for people to blame and instead look at ourselves and ask what contribution we can make to better our nation.

“If we continue to criticise each other, bad mouth and compare ourselves with others instead of looking where we are ...we can’t progress.”

While admitting that Mars Group had its facts correct before the documents were reprinted, the Budget Committee yesterday was categorical this time round, the lobby group was wrong.

“We hereby wish to release the tables to the Press as a confirmation that these figures are correct and to let everyone know that the Budget Committee is well backed by a resourceful Budget Office with budget experts who are independent.”

Other MPs at the press conference included Mr David Ngugi, Mr Alfred Sambu and Mr Elias Mbau. They asked Mars Group, whom they had sat with during the furore over the earlier errors, to liaise more with the Budget Office if there were other issues to be contested.

“There is no need to excite Kenyans,” Mr Kones said.

The Committee noted that recommendations on correcting the figures and the passing of the Fiscal Management Bill had progressed well and hoped the forensic audit would also progress well.

The committee has 11 members and eight of them met on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

Mars Group, headed by Mr Mwalimu Mati, scored a major point after identifying distortions in supplementary spending figures earlier passed by MPs.

However, an investigation by Parliament’s Budget and Finance departmental committees cleared Treasury of intent to defraud, agreeing with Mr Kenyatta’s explanation that the mistake was due to typing or computer errors.

Mr Kenyatta replaced Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya at Treasury after Mr Kimunya stepped down following a vote of no confidence over the sale of Grand Regency Hotel (now Laico Regency) among other transactions. He was later moved to the Ministry of Trade.

Mr Kimunya’s predecessor at Treasury, David Mwiraria resigned after he was mentioned in the Anglo Leasing scandal.