MPs Poke holes into Yatani’s spending plan for FY2021/2022

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 10- Kenya’s overall spending plan for the financial year 2021/2022 has currently been estimated at Sh3.66 trillion.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani is expected to present the budget to the public in the afternoon.

The Budget Appropriation Committee statement presented to the National Assembly on June 9 however argue that the estimates have exceeded the approved Budget Policy Statement of 2021/2022 by Sh14.11 billion.

According to the statement, the increase in the estimates for the new financial year are attributable to increased Consolidated Fund Services spending by Sh20.83 billion and an increase in parliament budget which is higher by Sh8.7 from the BPS ceiling.

Through this spending plan, the National Treasury has proposed Sh1.29 trillion for the recurrent expenditure while development will get Sh666.5 billion.

The executive is expected to receive Sh1.89 trillion while Parliament and Judiciary have been allocated Sh37.9 billion and Sh17.8 billion respectively.

Treasury has also projected a revenue collection of Sh2.039 trillion, an increase of Sh210 billion from the current financial year.

Of this, Kenya Revenue Authority is expected to collect Sh1.776 trillion ordinary revenue up from Sh1.574 trillion, with the rest being Appropriation-in-Aid.

“Though the revenue projections appear to be consecutive, and have complied with the IMF benchmarks, it should be noted that the expected revenue performance is based on sustained recovery in economic performance,” reads the BAC statement.

The key drivers according to the National Treasury for economic recovery include a stable macroeconomic environment, improved domestic consumption, and improved external demand.

The committee however said it is concerned that some of the growth fundamentals are potentially weak.

Further, the Budget Appropriation Committee has proposed that the National Treasury set up a funding kitty by October 1, 2021 that will primarily be used to take care of pending bills.

BAC Chair Kanini Kega says this should be facilitated through a long-term bond for the payment of the existing verified pending bills and court awards.

According to Kega, this follows series of increased cases of pending bills that they witnessed during the period of reviewing the 2021/2020 spending plan, where the matter has not been fully addressed since President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a directive on the same in 2019.

“ A presidential directive in June 2019, that all pending bills by government be cleared immediately, they continue to represent a significant challenge in almost all sectors of the budget it is noted that the veracity of some of these pending bills is also in doubt,” said Kega.

Some of the winners in the new financial year include education with a proposed spending of  Sh510 billion, energy, infrastructure and ICT, Sh401.3 billion , national security Sh170 billion and Health Sh119.9 billion.