Bill to guide Govt spending before House

Acting Finance minister Njeru Githae has tabled a Bill in Parliament that will guide government spending under the 18-month-old Constitution.

The Public Financial Management Bill came to the House just a day after the team in charge of implementing the Constitution warned that MPs were time-barred regarding some aspects of the Bill.

Charles Nyache, the chairman of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, said the House has written to Speaker Kenneth Marende urging him to make sure that MPs expedite the enactment of the Bill.

The Bill, published seven days ago, has some provisions in it that would assist in rolling out the devolved structure of governance. The MPs moved to hasten the maturity of the Bill to expedite its introduction into the House.

“We wish to bring it to your attention that (the Bill) …has provisions in it that require enactment within the 18-month-period provided in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution,” Mr Nyachae noted in his letter, also copied to the Attorney General Githu Muigai and Kenya Law Reform Commission chairman Kathurima M’Inoti and the acting Head of Civil Service and secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia.

Thus, the CIC added a new twist to MPs’ future and opened doors for the lawmakers to be sued for failing to beat the deadline. While MPs survived litigation for beating the deadline on the laws on devolution, and getting a 60-day deadline extension on land laws, they failed to expedite the enactment of the PFM law.

The Constitution is explicit that if MPs fail to meet the deadline of enactment of laws as stipulated in the Fifth Schedule, then any person can go to court to force the lawmakers to pass the law within a deadline set by the courts, failure to which Parliament stands dissolved.

The PFM law is crucial to roll out some of the aspects of the Constitution more so in Articles 187, 189, 190 and 207.

Article 189 anticipates legislation that sets the structures for intergovernmental relations.

“The PFM Bill deals with the setting up of an intergovernmental structure to deal with areas of concurrent jurisdiction namely the Intergovernmental Economic and Budget Council,” Mr Nyachae noted in his letter.

“Article 190 anticipates legislation to provide for support for county governments, the operation of financial management systems by county governments and intervention by national government in the case of failure of the county governments to perform their functions or to operate a prescribed financial management system,” the CIC added.

The tabling of the Bill also comes just a day after the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya pointed out glaring errors in the management of money in the public coffers. The accountants point out that some of the clauses are vague and need to be refined.

“What does maintaining public debt at a “sustainable level” mean? Is it possible for the Bill to prescribe threshold for sustainability to which the institution of the national Treasury can objectively be held accountable for?” the accountants posed.

They also point out a constitutional inconsistency that will see Parliament carry out oversight on its own budget. There are also questions about who will handle internal audits of government ministries.

“Our concern is how objective will the Institution of Parliament through the Parliamentary Budget Committee assess and scrutinize a budget drafted by the Parliamentary Service Commission, an organ of the institution of Parliament, and the same Parliament exercise approval and oversight over the implementation of the same budget. The proposed system is weak on institutional checks and balances,” the accountants noted in their brief on the Bill.