National Treasury wants Sh64bn for food, security

National Treasury CS Henry Rotich at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi on March 30, 2017. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Ministry seeks to increase the budget for the national government by Sh48.6 billion and Parliament by Sh34 million and reduce the recurrent budget for the Judiciary by Sh50 million.
  • Consolidated funds services will be raised by Sh15.5 billion – of which Sh10.5 billion is meant for the National Treasury bond interest, Sh1 billion for civil servants’ pension and Sh4 billion for civil servants’ gratuity payments.

The National Treasury has tabled a second mini-budget, amounting to Sh64.1 billion, to finance the food subsidy, election-related security operations and other services, just a month to a new financial year.

It seeks to increase the budget for the national government by Sh48.6 billion and Parliament by Sh34 million and reduce the recurrent budget for the Judiciary by Sh50 million.

Consolidated funds services will be raised by Sh15.5 billion – of which Sh10.5 billion is meant for the National Treasury bond interest, Sh1 billion for civil servants’ pension and Sh4 billion for civil servants’ gratuity payments.

“The proposed total increment of Sh64.1 billion is an increase of 2.9 per cent of approved budget estimates and an overall change of 2.2 per cent by both supplementary budgets (I and II),” said the Budget Office in a brief to the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly.

The National Treasury has set aside Sh42.1 billion for development expenditure and Sh6.5 billion for recurrent, bringing the total allocation to the national government to Sh48.6 billion.

The BAC, chaired by Rev Mutava Musyimi (Mbeere South), was taken through the mini-budget.

INTERIOR MINISTRY

The Budget Office, which advises MPs on fiscal matters, questioned the Sh523 million allocated to the Interior ministry under planning, policy coordination and support services.

The financial analysts also queried Sh3.7 billion for recruitment and training of police officers as well as enhanced security operations ahead of the August 8 General Election. They said they could not trace it in the budget books, given the number to be recruited remained the same as the initial target.

“In line with the proposal to address the cost of living, Sh3.7 billion has been allocated for the strategic grain reserve to increase the acquisition of strategic stocks from 0.5 million 90kg bags of maize as per the revised budget to 3.6 million 90kg bags of maize as per the proposed supplementary budget,” the fiscal analysts told MPs.

The government recently announced a Sh6.5 billion subsidy to bring down the rising cost of maize. The country is facing a serious shortage of maize flour, which saw the price of the staple hit a high of Sh153 per 2kg bag.