Jubilee tables Sh61bn plan to fight hunger

The government has asked MPs to approve a Sh61 billion allocation to fight the effects of drought and resolve salary disputes involving university lecturers and doctors.

In a supplementary budget tabled to the House just over three months to the end of the financial year, Treasury is seeking an additional Sh6.9 billion to deal with drought ravaging 23 counties.

Doctors, who have been on strike for almost three months in a protracted labour dispute, have been allocated Sh4.8 billion. They have been demanding a 300 per cent pay increase contained in a 2013 collective bargaining agreement, among other demands on improvement of working conditions.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich recently told MPs that the implementation of the doctors’ demand as stated in the controversial CBA would amount to Sh1.7 trillion, the projected revenue for government in the next financial year. Lecturers have also been offered Sh4.8 billion to persuade them to return to work.

But the main beneficiary is the Kenya Roads Board, with an increase of Sh20.8 billion in its recurrent budget, from an increase in collections from motorists for the Roads Maintenance Levy.

In the fight against terrorism, and safeguarding the country’s security in the run-up to the August 8 elections, the Kenya Defence Forces and the National Intelligence Service have each received Sh2.5 billion.

The estimates tabled by the Budget and Appropriations committee give the ministry of Interior Sh1 billion for repatriation of 600,000 Somali refugees from Dadaab although the High Court has issued a temporary injunction against the move, but which the government says it will appeal against.

In the same supplementary estimates for the 2016/2017 Financial Year, Sh2.2 billion has been set aside for the construction of a border wall between Kenya and Somalia, which is one of the security programmes being carried out to deal with the threat of Al-Shabaab terrorists.

REDUCED FUNDING

Preparations for the General Election have also received a boost, with an increase of Sh2 billion for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The budget, tabled by the chairman of the Budget Committee and Mbeere South MP Mutava Musyimi last week, has reduced funding for key government projects such as electricity connections, roads and the standard gauge railway.

Projects worth Sh65.6 billion have been stalled with Mr Musyimi criticising the government for overestimating donor funding at the beginning of the financial year.

“The committee is concerned about low absorptive capacity for development projects. Often the estimates for these projects are exaggerated at the beginning of the Financial Year only for them to be adjusted later in the supplementary budget. The process of planning and approval of projects, especially those that are donor funded should be firmed up,” he said.

Among key projects that have been hurt in what could be the last supplementary budget of the year before an early budget expected next month due to the elections, are power transmission and distribution projects worth about Sh53 billion.

However, the government has sought a Sh8 billion increase for power generation projects, one of its flagship endeavours.

DEBT REPAYMENT

Funding for the standard gauge railway from Mombasa to Nairobi has also seen a reduction of Sh4.9 billion, but it is not clear if this will delay its projected June launch.

Over Sh7 billion for marine transport has also been slashed and so has Sh10 billion meant to be for the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF), after the High Court ruled that only Sh25 billion be released pending a ruling of the High Court on the fund’s legality.

The Jubilee government has also requested Sh13 billion for roads.

The adjustments proposed by Mr Rotich in the mini-budget have led to an overall reduction of the overall budget for the current financial year by Sh20.4 billion from Sh2.2 trillion to Sh2.1 trillion, in changes that have seen debt repayment go down by Sh16.6 billion, owing to interest reduction.

Treasury has come under criticism for exposing the exchequer to a Sh22.4 billion bill for repayment of debts on 13 T-Bonds and a five-year bond obtained in May 2015, which had not been factored in the main budget.

In recommendations on supplementary budgets, which should only be made under clearly unforeseen circumstances and emergencies, the Budget Committee has called for the publishing of all projects and status of completion on the National Treasury website to help deal with corruption.