By Luke Anami

Kenya may not attain Vision 2030 goals due to failure to utilise development funds, Ms Agnes Odhiambo, Controller of Budget said.

According to the Third Quarter 2011/12 Budgetary Review Implementation Report released by the Office of Controller of Budget released on Friday, the development expenditure of all the sectors for financial year 2011/2012 was estimated at Sh396.6 billion, which represents 34.2 per cent of the total budget.

However, the total expenditure for development during the same period was Sh145.1 billion, which 36.6 per cent of the gross estimates.

procurement hurdles

She blamed failure to spend the entire development budget in the third quarter of the 2011/13 financial year to rigid procurement procedures and donor funding conditionalities.

“Our report shows that only 36.6 per cent of the development vote for the period July 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012 was spent,” Ms Odhiambo said. “This poor use of budgetary allocations is a worrying trend and one that jeopardises efforts aimed at achieving the Vision 2030,” she said adding that non-utilisation of resources results in non-provision of goods and services to the public.

Development funds are earmarked for infrastructure, energy, healthcare, education as well as ICT projects. These sectors have been touted as key to the attainment of Vision 2030.

hurried purchases

According to the report, the uptake of donor funds has been slow and challenging due to problems with the rigid procurement processes, governance and accountability issues, lack of adequate capacity for project management and delays in obtaining no objections to facilitate the absorption of the funds.

“Parliament and Treasury should look into the factors that impede expenditure of development funds to avoid last minute purchases that border on wastage and graft,” she said. “Money that is not utilised should be carried over to the next financial year rather than spending it on hurried projects to avoid returning funds to Treasury.”

The same report noted that while some ministries are stuck with unspent funds, many others are cash-strapped. They include Ministries of Trade, Tourism and Industrialisation.

“It is ironical that this should be happening yet some of these underfunded sectors are flagship sectors in the Vision 2030,” she said.

In the Vision 2030, these sectors are expected to drive the economy in terms of trade and opening up new opportunities for business.