Planning ministry to lose Sh500m
Parliament’s Budget Committee has threatened to chop off Sh500 million from the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, after the ministers failed to appear to defend the ministry’s budget.
Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya, the permanent secretary Edward Sambili were said to be out of the country.
Assistant minister Peter Kenneth is in the country, but the committee was told that he was out of Nairobi.
Speaking at a meeting in Nairobi’s County Hall, the lawmakers said it will go by the proposals received from the public that the ministry was not serious in executing its mandate, and that’s why its expenditure should be retained at last year’s levels.
The MPs declined to take submissions from the two officers from the ministry.
“It is not because we think you are not competent to handle the matters of the budget, but if we listen to you, there’s a likelihood that you will be disowned by the ministers should anything go wrong,” said Mr Elias Mbau, the chairman of the Budget Committee.
But before the officers were shown the door, the MPs told them to tell their superiors that the recurrent budget will be retained at last year’s level of Sh2.4 billion, and not this year’s proposal of Sh2.9 billion.
MP Danson Mungatana (Garsen) and MP John Mututho (Naivasha) said the committee will target the money for foreign travel so that the ministers are tethered around to help in the implementation of the country’s development roadmap, the Kenya Vision 2030.
“They are not paid to be tourists. They’re paid to make and actualise plans within this country, not to globe-trot,” said Mr Mututho.
Mr Mungatana added that the big shots at the ministry should know that if they miss House committee meetings by going abroad, there’ll be nothing left for them in six months.
The Ministry of Planning also manages the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), and by going for the recurrent vote, the MPs were perhaps keen to ensure that the Sh27.5 billion allocated for purposes of development will not be touched.
The CDF got Sh14.5 billion last year and has been allocated Sh23 billion in the current fiscal year.
The MPs left the meeting and went to Nyeri where they are meeting for a retreat to compile the budget report to be adopted by Parliament, with alterations here and there as per the country’s priorities.
Parliament got the powers to alter the budget after the passage of the Constitution last August.
It has already approved Sh368 billion to help the government move, while it looks at the details in the whole estimates presented to the House on June 8, 2011.
The House resumes on Tuesday next week (July 19, 2011) with the first agenda item being the approval of the estimates, the passage of the Finance Bill on new taxation levels, and the passage of the Appropriations Bill to allow the government to access the full Sh1.15 trillion Budget.
MPs will also have to propose how they plan to dodge paying tax on their perks until after the next polls.
