MPs fault minister Githae over budget documents

Parliament’s Budget Committee has accused Finance minister Njeru Githae of fomenting a crisis for the next government after he failed to present five crucial documents to guide spending in the transition to devolved units.

The chairman of the committee, Elias Mbau, his deputy Alfred Sambu and member Danson Mungatana (Garsen) said the Treasury had gone back to its old ways of “impunity” when it came to the budget process.

The documents in question is the supplementary budget for the current financial year, the Budget Policy Statement, rules for government spending, two laws to guide spending into devolved units, and a pre-election report on the status of the Treasury and economy before the polls.

"As a committee, he said, we will not tire reminding the minister that it is his responsibility to ensure that the budget process is conducted in a manner and within a timeframe sufficient enough to permit the various participants in the process to comply with the Constitution,” the MPs said at a news conference in Parliament’s media centre in Nairobi on Thursday.

These documents have to be presented to the House, for scrutiny and approval, before the government can begin spending the money.

The minister was supposed to table the five documents on Tuesday.

The MPs said without the supplementary budget, the spending in government could grind to a halt, if the next Parliament fails to execute the budget on time. The money set aside for the counties will also not be released without the Division of Revenue Bill and the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, being approved in the House.

“We will not tire reminding the minister that it is his job to ensure that the process is concluded. The Budget Committee has extended goodwill to the minister during his tenure. That is goodwill which he should neither abuse nor take for granted,” said Mr Mbau.

The making of the next Budget is also in jeopardy, because, the Budget Policy Statement –the basis for the national budget—ought to be in the House by February 15.

But by that time, there will be no Parliament to check the policies that the government ministries would want to execute with the budget money.

“It is difficult to imagine how the minister expects to formulate and process the 2013/4 budget, without the BPS having passed through Parliament,” said Mr Mbau.

Financial mess

The next government will also be in a financial mess, because, the leadership might not know what was in the public coffers when they came in. The MPs said, the Treasury ought to put out a pre-election report showing the money in the public coffers.

According to the Public Finance Management Act, the MPs said, the report ought to have been in the House on November 4, that is, 120 days, to the election date.

“This is an important document indicating all direct and indirect expenses related to elections. This country will go to the elections without an idea of what was in the government coffers before the elections, and what was supposed to be spent on the elections,” said Mr Mbau.

Mr Mungatana added that there was a lacunae in the Constitution, which the Minister of Finance was keen to exploit to ensure that the next budget was made by the mandarins at the Treasury, and that the input of all the Kenyans will not be included in there.

“The minister knows that MPs will go away after the term of the Tenth Parliament expires. He knows no one will put him in check. He won’t present the papers to use,” said Mr Mungatana.

They said that they were willing to burn the midnight oil to ensure the budget was approved, even if it means “approving all those documents in one afternoon”.

“The ministry is courting a crisis in this country,” added Mr Sambu.

In Kenya, the financial year ends on June 30. Bearing in mind the lengthy process that has to start in February, and considering that there will be no Parliament after January 14, 2013, the MPs want to conclude the budget process before they go home for Christmas.

They are scheduled to take a Christmas break Thursday afternoon.