MPs need keen eye on budget proposals

The Budget Scrutiny Report tabled last week in Parliament levels serious accusations against Treasury, and raises questions about the level of co-operation between two key ministries. Prepared by Parliament’s Budget Committee, the document concludes officers in the Ministry of Finance failed to consult adequately, if at all, with the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, when drawing up projections for the 2010-11 budget due in June.Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta tabled the Budget Policy Statement in Parliament on March 23, but the committee has described it as peppered with huge gaps that reflect an in-built reluctance by Treasury officials to work with a sister ministry. The claims are serious, coming at a time when the Government is running huge fiscal deficits due to unplanned expenditure and declining revenue receipts following the failure of the Kenya Revenue Authority to meet its targets.Matters have not been helped by the delayed privatisation of several State-owned companies, including National Bank, and the Government’s inability to float a much-touted Eurobond to fund development spending.One of the questions raised by the House committee concerns Treasury’s prediction in the Budget paper of higher economic growth this year, without showing the sources or drivers for this growth, something that would not have happened if there were more consultation.The Planning Ministry is the repository of much of the data used by the Government to draw up its macroeconomic strategy, and it would be foolhardy to ignore its work. It is this information that helps the Government deliver on its development agenda, by aligning ministries’ budgets to spending priorities.Because MPs have in the past failed to pay enough attention to detail, Treasury, by presenting only half the picture in its projections, is setting a dangerous precedent. It is good to see a key committee of Parliament asserting its oversight role so effectively. However, it would be better for MPs take a keener interest than is the case now in interrogating Treasury on the floor of the House over the figures it provides.Despite the passing of legislation giving MPs more input in the budget-making process, many are yet to show a willingness to scrutinise policy statements from the Finance ministry before passing key financial Bills. The fact that Parliament easily approved Treasury’s request for billions from the Consolidated Fund in its Supplementary Budget with hardly a whimper, is a case in point.Data repositoryOne of the reasons Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing, the two biggest scams yet in Kenya’s history, were easy to perpetrate was because Parliament abdicated its mandate to scrutinise the budget paragraph by paragraph.But there are other problems as well. The creation of the Public Procurement Oversight Authority was meant to streamline the way Government sources and pays for goods and services, and eliminate corruption. Unfortunately, the slow nature of public procurement and the laborious bureaucracy ministries have to navigate to secure approvals and funds from Treasury are the reasons billions of shillings remain unused this financial year.This discrepancy between the Government’s oft-stated goals to ensure money budgeted for is well spent, and the reality on the ground, is valid enough reason to question the system used to dispense taxpayer and donor funds. More often than not, on Budget Day, the Finance Minister reads a lofty speech loaded with politically weighted promises. But six months later, he has often only delivered 30 per cent of what he promised. Uhuru has said in the recent past that one of the reasons for the late release of funds to ministries this year was the need to fix accounting gaps that could leave open windows for misuse of taxpayer money.That is all well and good, but without a rethink of the procurement rules and the Paymaster system in use at Treasury, funds left unused at the end of the Government’s financial year will continue to be massive.

MPs need keen eye on budget proposals

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MPs need keen eye on budget proposals

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