Cabinet approves Sh73.3b supplementary budget

By PETER OPIYO

The Cabinet has approved an additional Sh73.2 billion as supplementary budget to fund Government operations.

It also approved key devolution Bills and the Budget Policy Statement to set in motion the budget-making process.

This follows complaints by the Parliamentary Budget Committee that the Executive was delaying the budget process by not tabling the documents in Parliament.

The supplementary budget recommends an additional Sh60.2 billion for recurrent expenditure and Sh13 billion for development expenditure.

The Bills approved by the Cabinet are the Division of Revenue Bill 2012, which sets out the allocation of funds in the 2013/2014 budget between county and central governments and County Allocation of Revenue Bill 2012, which provides for the equitable division of revenue raised nationally among county governments.

Dissolution of Parliament

The Transition to County Allocation of Revenue Bill 2012 was also approved. The documents must be approved by Parliament.

The Cabinet’s action came moments after Parliament’s Budget Committee said newly created 47 counties would be cash-strapped and Government operations may be affected should Parliament be dissolved before dealing with crucial fiscal documents.

The Committee raised the red flag accusing Finance Minister Njeru Githae of sitting on the documents to avoid parliamentary scrutiny and approval, and said a constitutional amendment to have a continuous running Parliament would be in order to avoid such crisis in future.