By Peter Opiyo
Parliament finally approved Sh58.8 billion Supplementary Budget to enable the government fund its operations until the end of the financial year.
MPs endorsed the mini-budget even after they frustrated the move last week on account that Finance Minister Njeru Githae had not presented to the House County Bills that would determine revenue allocation and division to the devolved units.
Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim had warned that failure to endorse the motion would shut down government operations and put the country into ‘a fiscal cliff’, an American situation that is characterized by increased tax among workers and a cut in public spending.
“By shooting down the motion, we would shut down the operations of the government…we would experience some sort of ‘fiscal cliff’ and we don’t need to use unorthodox means to frustrate the motion,” Farah had warned MPs.
Factored in the supplementary budget is the additional allocation to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to help it conduct upcoming polls. Salaries for nurses, police officers and increased spending in other government projects are also factored in the mini budget. The money would also go towards administrative costs and operationalization of county offices.
Other expenditure are for security and other operational expenses related to the elections as well as funding for implementation of constitutional reforms.
The budget includes Sh50.7 billion as recurrent expenditure and Sh7.9 billion as development expenditure.
The Bills that the MPs demanded that the minister present were the Transition County Allocation of Revenue Bill, the Division of Revenue Bill, the County Allocation of Revenue Bill and The Transition County Appropriation Bill.
Githae tabled the Bills last week and they have now been set for debate but MPs again protested at the contents of the Bill saying they do not factor in the formula for allocation of revenue to the counties as passed by Parliament.
Dujis MP, Aden Duale argued the Bills were unconstitutional as they did not depict the 15 percent that should be allocated to the counties. The Constitution requires that at least 15 percent of the national budget should go to the counties.
He said instead of providing Sh30.4 billion to cover for four months the minister only factored in Sh6.8 billion, representing 3.3 per cent of the national revenue.
“The Bills presented by the minister do not provide money to cover the next four months. This House should not rubberstamp them because the minister is contravening the Constitution,” said Duale.
But Githae defended himself saying the amounts that have been given to the counties is sufficient to run for the four months until the start of the financial year when county governments would draft their budgets for considerations.
