- Of the Sh6.35 billion allocated to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, Sh5.85 billion will be to counties
- House to pass Supplementary Budget III by Tuesday when the financial years comes to an end
Image: FILE
MPs will rush to pass the Supplementary Budget III as 2019-20 fiscal year comes to an end on Tuesday.
The Supplementary Budget III was prepared primarily to cater for Covid-19 expenditure, security operations and Mukuru Renewal Regeneration Project.
Budget and Appropriations Committee is proposing an overall increment in the total budget by Sh14.3 billion from the approved Supplementary II Budget estimates.
It proposes an additional Sh8.86 billion in recurrent expenditure and Sh5.5 billion for development.
“The most significant increase in the recurrent budget is under the Ministry of Health to cater for Covid-19-related expenditure (Sh6.35 billion of which Sh5.85 billion will be allocated to counties” the Budget and Appropriations Committee report said.
The Ministry of Defence will get Sh1.9 billion more to cater for enhanced security operations. Equally, the biggest increase in development is under State Department for Housing (Sh2.3 billion) to cater for provision of supporting infrastructure for social housing units.
A total of Sh1.8 billion will go towards the Nairobi Commuter Rail project, Sh1.5 billion for the communication surveillance systems and Sh1.16 billion for the Ministry of Energy’s Loiyangalani Suswa Line.
“Though the Ministry of Health has been allocated Sh5.85 billion to support county governments to mitigate against the impacts of Covid-19, it is observed that the framework for disbursements of these funds has not been provided,” the report handed over to the House by Committee vice chair Moses Lessonet said.
The overall change from the original approved budget will be an increase of Sh43.7 billion.
The report further said information has not been provided on how additional expenditure will be financed.
“There is no information for additional sources of revenue for financing additional expenditure suggesting that financing will be accrued from debt,” the report added.
On the Ministry of Energy’s allocation for the Loiyangalani-Suswa transmission line, the report said the additional funding has been a recurring issue that has been addressed by the National Assembly in the previous budget reviews.
“In 2019, the National Assembly recommended a special audit following inconsistencies in series of payments vis a vis the outstanding claims as well as disputed invoices and unclear basis for claims,” it said.
The report added that the proposed allocation for development projects under Administration and National Security is a reversal of what was reduced by the House in Supplementary II.
Edited by EKibii