MPs give themselves Sh7b more, slash health budget

The National Assembly during a past session. [File, Standard] Legislators have now increased their spending limit by a staggering Sh7 billion for the financial year starting July 1, even as the Health ministry's budget was cut by Sh73.4 billion. At the same time, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) kept its allocation of Sh39 billion, while the Office of the President retained its Sh4.7 billion allocation. According to the Budget Policy Statement tabled on Wednesday, the National Treasury had set a budgetary ceiling of Sh42.88 billion for Parliament for 2025/2026, but a report by the Liaison Committee has recommended the amount to be reviewed to Sh49.48 billion. The committee, chaired by Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei, also proposed for an allocation of Sh3 billion for public participation initiatives. It also proposed a Sh1 billion increment to the Judiciary, whose allocation had been pegged at Sh25.7 billion to Sh26.7 billion. Ministries, departments and State agencies (MDAs) received a budget slash of Sh46.5 billion after the committee recommended their budgetary allocation be trimmed from Sh2.5 trillion to Sh2.4477 trillion. Out of this, the Executive gets Sh2,447,236,081,480, while the Office of the Auditor General will have Sh8,652,200,000. The House team also recommended that the allocation to County Governments Equitable Share be approved at Sh405,069,420,197, and the arrears to the Equalization Fund be set at Sh2,74 billion. The report further proposes that the County Government Additional allocations be approved at Sh69,802,409,623. The reductions saw the Department of Medical Services lose Sh73.41 billion after it was allocated Sh99.19 billion, down from Sh172.6billion. Notably, the vote on general administration was reduced from Sh95.5 billion to Sh22.09 billion. Public Health was allocated Sh31.87 billion from an earlier proposal of Sh31.872 billion. "The committee recommends that by 30th April 2025, the National Treasury presents a report to the National Assembly on the outcome of engagements with all MDAs that have outstanding debts under the defunct National Health Insurance Fund and develops a structured debt repayment plan for settling the Sh12.064 billion owed, including Work Injury Benefits Act, Kenya Police Service and the Civil Servants scheme," added the report. Other changes saw the Ministry of Defence's budget reviewed downwards by Sh8 billion, the National Police Service's reduced by 1 billion from an earlier allocation of Sh118 billion to Sh117 billion, while State House also saw its allocation reviewed downwards by Sh100 million to Sh7.4 billion. Moreover, the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi had its budget scaled downwards by Sh4 million from Sh930 million to Sh926 million. The National intelligence Service was allocated Sh52.1 billion, representing a Sh200 million cut from Sh52.3 billion. Others include the Department for Correctional Services, which has been allocated Sh38.2 billion, while the Office of the Deputy President has received an increment of Sh100 million from Sh3.3 billion to Sh3.4 billion. The team has consequently directed the IEBC to submit to Parliament a comprehensive report detailing all pending bills, including legal fees, election logistics and other outstanding obligations, for verification and scrutiny. Other allocations include Sh149.14 to basic education, which signified a Sh22 million slash from an earlier Sh149.17 billion, and Sh382.23 billion to the Teachers Service Commission, which was a decrease from Sh382.27 billion. The State Department for Higher Education retained its allocation of Sh149.8 million.

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