MPs demand further budget cuts, integrity of spending

Members of Parliament are pushing for further cuts to the national budget to fend off imminent tax hikes, potentially crippling the President’s development agenda.

The proposals to yet again review the spending plans were put forward yesterday in a stormy session of the Budget Committee of the National Assembly held in Nairobi.

Already, Sh55 billion for projects is targeted owing to projected revenue shortfalls, which could be plugged in part through taxes that Parliament will consider today.

On one hand were MPs who supported the increased taxation, which is critical to securing the Big Four agenda, on the other were those who said the welfare of Kenyans was more important.

A case in point is why the Government has decided to introduce new uniforms for the police in a multi-billion shilling venture which is not a priority considering the current economic tough times.

“How can you defend so much non-essential expenditures and still want to raise taxes?” said Jomvu MP Badi Twalib, adding “That is where we must start from.”

His sentiments were echoed by several other legislators who were in the closed-door meeting.

Kimani Ichung’wah told The Standard the conclusion of the lengthy deliberations could well translate to even more budget cuts.

“That is very possible, but I can speak with certainty after the meeting is over because we have so far been receiving views,” he said.

The committee was sitting yesterday at the Boma Hotel to deliberate on the Sh2.97 trillion budget, whose funding has split lawmakers.

Among the reasons for the budget cuts is a demand by legislators of higher levels of transparency in the allocations as contained in the Supplementary Budget.

It was their belief that even allocations for the retained expenditures could be trimmed further as that was where the money was "hidden”.

Richard Onyonka, the MP for Kitutu Chache South, said he wanted the Treasury to justify every allocation made so far, saying many were too big to be retained.

"We are not going to pass this budget as it stands because there is a lot of unexplained expenditures that have been retained," he said.

In defending his position, the MP said many of the dockets that have had their budgets cut even significantly have not reorganised their programmes.

At the presidency, for instance, more than Sh323 million was chopped from the initial budget of Sh9.1 billion. However, the prior targets and the revised targets for all programmes remained the same.

Others who spoke to The Standard in confidence said they wanted to see an itemised list of programmes and how much had been cut from them.

"There is a lot of money hidden in these allocations which we must interrogate and likely chop," said the legislator.

Should further budget cuts be approved in place of the proposed taxes, the President’s development plans, which include affordable housing and universal healthcare, could be badly exposed.

The National Treasury has tabled a revised budget for consideration by Parliament, containing reduced allocations to most ministries and departments.

But it is how the budget will be funded that has raised a storm, prompting President Uhuru Kenyatta to whip legislators allied to his Jubilee party for support.

 He also called on Opposition leader Raila Odinga to also lobby MPs of his ODM party.