Parliament expected to ratify the Finance Bill next week
Finance minister Njeru Githae. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
- Submissions have been made to the National Assembly to present budget policy paper to the August house, says Finance minister
Parliament is expected to ratify the Finance Bill 2011 and adopt the budget policy statement when it resumes next week.
Ministries and other government departments have been using their budgetary allocations against legal provisions, following failure by the August house to ratify the 2011 Finance Bill by December 31 last year.
Mr Njeru Githae, Finance minister, has said that although the ministry failed to meet the March 31 deadline of presenting the 2012 /2013 budget policy paper, the submissions have been made to the clerk of the National Assembly and will be presented to Parliament.
“We are still within the confines of the law and I will present the budget policy statement to Parliament when we resume from the recess,” said the minister.
Legally, the Cabinet secretary in charge of finance should present the estimates to the parliamentary committee on Finance by March 30 of every year, to allow for them to be scrutinised before being presented to Parliament.
Article 221 of the constitution prescribes that “…Before the National Assembly considers the estimates of revenue and expenditure, a committee of the Assembly shall discuss and review the estimates and make recommendations to the Assembly.”
Mr Elias Mbau, the Parliamentary Budget Committee (PBC) chairman and also MP for Maragwa, alleged that the executive and Treasury had conspired to take advantage of the recess and avoid giving the estimates in sync with the constitutional timelines.
The MPs’ recommendations on the policy statement are meant to inform on changes to the budgetary estimates, which the cabinet secretary must submit to Parliament on April 30.
The recommendations can only be made if the MP’s have a prior scrutiny of the estimates through the budget policy paper.
Mr Mbau has warned that Parliament will not allow the executive to get away with a budget that does not factor in MPs’ report on the BPS.
Treasury officials have, however, dismissed the claims saying they have presented the estimates.
