By VITALIS KIMUTAI

Members of Parliament praised the Budget as viable but cautioned against re-introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Bill which had been rejected by the last Parliament.

Deputy Majority Leader at the National Assembly Naomi Shaban, MPs John Mbadi, Omondi Anyanga, Kimani Ngunjiri, Zakayo Cheruiyot, Johana Ng’eno, Mithika Linturi, Ronald Tonui, Alice Wahome and Leonard Sang said the planned re-introduction of the VAT Bill should be in such a manner that it would not affect essential commodities.

“The budget policy is one of mixed bag of blessings because though it is good and implementable, the Cabinet Secretary failed to state how he intends to widen the tax bracket to finance the ambitious Budget,” Mbadi said. “Parliament should sit down with the Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury (Henry Rotich) and technocrats at the Treasury and interrogate the VAT Bill so as to remove what should not be in the tax bracket,” he continued.

He said the 5.8 per cent growth rate was not realistic and the budget revenue was so high that it may affect development budget and lead to domestic borrowing which in turn would lead to high interest rates and unemployment.

Wahome said she was opposed to the re-introduction of the Bill as it would lead to rise in prices of essential commodities thus affecting the poor in the society.

“Rotich is a young man with a clear grasp of the budgetary process and was very candid in his presentation. We are hoping that he will ensure that money is released in time for the projects and allocations would not be divided to other sectors that had not been planned for,” Anyanga said.

Youth fund

“Money allocated to infrastructural development especially roads, railway and electrification should be released at the earliest opportunity so as to ease transportation of goods and spur economic growth in marginalised areas that have lagged behind for decades,” Mr Anyanga added.

At the same time, Cheruiyot said the money allocated to the security sector had been increasing with each budget cycle but the level of crime was rising at an alarming rate.

“There is an urgent need to address the issue of controls in the security department because with the increase in budgetary allocation we are not seeing a decline in crime as expected,” he said.

However, Dr Shaban and Tonui expressed disappointment that the Treasury had failed to factor in money to employ the 80,000 teachers required in public schools in the country saying it would affect the standards of education.

“It is sad that the education sector will continue to suffer due to failure to employ teachers to bridge the gap over teacher-student ratio,” Tonui said.

Ngunjiri said the Sh6 billion allocated to the youth fund was welcome and the fact that financial institutions would not administer the money would ensure that youths have better access to it to start income generating projects.

Echoing his colleagues’ statements, Sang said it was commendable that the Government would employ more nurses and provide free medical care for expectant mothers in all public health institutions. Ng’eno also added the fact that the medics would be employed at the constituency level would ensure fairness in the recruitment process and retention of the staff.