Ministries and government agencies have spent only 12 per cent of the cash set aside for development projects.
Of the Sh457 billion set aside in the 2022-23 financial year, Treasury has released Sh55 billion.
The Controller of Budget's review for the first three months of the year showed that ministries, state departments, and agencies have spent Sh83 billion on development.
Of the projects executed as of November 30 when the National Treasury issued the report, about Sh18 billion was yet to be paid.
The import could be that six months into the fiscal year, several projects are yet to start, have stalled or have pending bills.
For instance, the Executive Office of the President has only been issued Sh3 million out of the Sh697 million that was budgeted for in the current year.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s office has not received any amount from the Sh400 million that was allocated for projects.
State House, for its part, is yet to be issued with more than Sh900 million of the Sh1.3 billion provided in the budget.
State House, the report shows, has only been issued Sh493 million for capital projects as at the time of the report.
The Correctional Services department had been issued Sh177 million, being about 30 per cent of its Sh695 million development budget.
Irrigation projects also seem to be lagging with only Sh100 million disbursed by the exchequer out of the allocated Sh2.7 billion.
Despite MPs allocating Sh1.6 billion to the police, the National Treasury has only paid out Sh75 million five months into the new fiscal year.
A similar scenario plays out in the department of Interior and National Administration with only Sh66 million disbursed out of the allocated Sh7.5 billion.
It is the same case of the ASALs department where only Sh2 billion of the Sh8.8 billion has been released by the exchequer.
The budget analysis shows that the Education sector is equally affected heavily, with only Sh9.2 billion disbursed towards building primary and secondary schools infrastructure out of the provided Sh20.3 billion.
Universities and other institutions of higher learning have also received Sh244 million out of Sh3 billion.
The State Department of Economic Planning, which is the main accounting votehead for CDF, has only received Sh597 million of the Sh59 billion set aside on June 30, 2023.
MPs recently staged a walkout of National Assembly chambers protesting delayed disbursement of CDF cash.
They said the delay was inordinate with no clear signs of when the National Treasury would act.
“We are now in the sixth month of the FY 2023-2024. As we speak since this House appropriated funds to the NG-CDF board for disbursement to respective NG-CDF committees, not a single cent has hit the bank accounts of these committees, and definitely NGAAF,” Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi said during the December 5 sitting.
The woman representatives’ managed National Government Affirmative Action Fund domiciled in the Gender department, has also suffered cash supply shortages.
Records show that whereas the department was allotted Sh3.47 billion, Treasury has only disbursed Sh31 million.
Road projects have also suffered the low disbursements with more than Sh67 billion yet to be disbursed. Only Sh6.7 billion has been released so far.
Housing, which is among Ruto’s top legacy plans, has received Sh572 million out of the budget of Sh5.5 billion.
Billions of shillings are yet to be disbursed in respect of ICT and broadcasting projects (Sh2.9 billion), Energy (Sh17.4 billion), Livestock development (Sh4.2 billion), Crop development (Sh29 billion), Sh17 billion in respect of MSMES, Industry, and Investment promotion departments, and Sh3.6 billion for the case of cooperatives.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o has called out the government over the low absorption of budget.
In the first three months of the current fiscal year, the overall national government budget absorption was Sh784.18 billion (18.6 per cent) against the targeted rate of 25 per cent.
Of the stated amounts, Sh83.7 billion (10.4 per cent) was in respect of ministerial development expenditure, Sh320.70 billion (20.5 per cent) for ministerial recurrent expenditure, and Sh379.79 billion (20.7 per cent) for Consolidated Fund Services.
“Analysis of reports submitted for the first three months of financial year 2023-24 by Ministries, Department, and Agencies to the Controller of Budget attribute low absorption of budget to delay in uploading Procurement Plans into IFMIS and disbursement of funds by the National Treasury,” Nyakang’o said.
The Controller of Budget recommended in her report that “the National Treasury streamlines the funds’ disbursement cycle so that ministries, departments, and agencies know when funds will be released as per the approved work plans.”
“In addition, accounting officers should ensure compliance with various National Treasury circulars and other regulations to minimize non-essential expenditure and timely payment of pending bills/carryovers,” Nyakang’o said.
A similar scenario plays out in the Consolidated Fund Services issues where only Sh575 billion of the budgeted Sh2 trillion has been disbursed.
For public debt, only Sh517 billion had been paid out as of November 30 from the budget of Sh1.9 trillion.
About Sh139 billion was outstanding in respect of pensions and gratuities so is more than two-thirds of disbursements for salaries and allowances.
Civil servants have of late complained of delayed salaries even as revenues hit Sh1.1 trillion during the Treasury report’s publication period.
County governments, the data shows, have also not received about two-thirds of their allocation with only Sh107 billion out of Sh385 billion having been paid out as of November 30.
Overall, the Treasury had released only Sh1.183 trillion of the total national budget, meaning it has to raise Sh3.09 trillion by June 30 next year.
