MPs blame ministries on projects

Members of Parliament of parliament in a past parliamentary session. [File, Standard]

Lawmakers have admitted that they are unable to give the status of the taxpayer-funded projects that they endorse.

They said yesterday the state of affairs had hampered their decision-making when approving funds allocated to projects during the national budget-making process.

The National Treasury’s Directorate of Monitoring and Evaluation has presented a draft policy proposing that all ministries and agencies set aside one per cent of their development budgets for monitoring and evaluation of State projects.

The proposal would see the Government set aside Sh6 billion in the current financial year going by the Sh625 billion national development budget.

Evaluation mechanisms

Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu, who chairs a group working under the Parliamentary Caucus on Evidence-Informed Oversight and Decision-Making, said proper monitoring and evaluation mechanisms on public-funded projects would enable MPs to make decisions that put the country’s resources to better use.

“Every year we approve the budget as Parliament, but we hardly get feedback on what has been done with the money. If there was evidence on what is done with the money, we would be able to make decisions on whether to increase or reduce allocation to a particular agency from a point of information,” he said.

“The monitoring and evaluation policy has taken too long… other jurisdictions have ministries that are in charge of such functions.”