The Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) has proposed a gross reduction of Kshs2 billion from budget allocation.
This emerged during a meeting with the Budget and Appropriations Committee chaired by Hon. Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu) over the Supplementary Estimates 1 for the Financial Year 2024/25.
The proposed Supplementary Estimates 1 for the Financial Year 2024/25 seek to reduce the PSC budget by Kshs. 3.732 billion. The most affected is the development vote, which has been reduced by 50%.
This, according to the Commission, will greatly affect Parliament as it conducts its core functions of representation, legislation and oversight.
“It is therefore proposed that PSC complies with the reduction measures in a manner that takes into account the specific mandates of Parliament and the Commission, to ensure minimal disruption of core functions”, noted Mr. Jeremiah Nyegenye the Secretary to the Parliamentary Service Commission and Clerk of the Senate.
PSC Commissioners also urged the Budget Committee to take into account the need for resources for normalization of legislative business and business continuity, as the Houses operations were massively affected by the damage caused by the recent invasion of Parliament.
Members of the Committee further proposed to the Commission areas that allocations could be reduced and reallocated, to finance core projects like the last mile connectivity, for their consideration.
The PSC delegation was led by Commissioner Hon. Patrick Makau (Mavoko), who was joined by Commissioner and Chairperson of the Board of the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training (CPST) , Hon. Rachel Ameso, Commissioner Hon. Johnson Muthama, Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Samuel Njoroge, Clerk of the Senate and Secretary to the Parliamentary Service Commission, Mr. Jeremiah Nyegenye and the Director-General, Parliamentary Joint Services, Mr. Clement Nyandiere.
The Committee in the afternoon also met with the Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) Hon. Musalia Mudavadi and the Principal Secretary, National Treasury and Economic Planning Dr. Chris Kiptoo, over the Supplementary Estimates.
Hon. Nyoro apprised the Treasury officials that the Committee had already received submissions from all the Departmental Committees and MDAs under its purview, and is currently finalizing the report ahead of its tabling tomorrow, when the House resumes.
“We have had to look at areas that we can postpone and others that we can cancel, so that we can operate within a fiscal framework that matches the revenue that we make. In that respect, we have been holding meetings with Departmental Committees and all of them have supported the proposed budget cuts”, explained Hon. Nyoro.
The Budget Committee Chair also observed that Members had made adjustments in light of the current situation, especially with regards the issuance of Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
“For the first time since I became an MP, I have never heard any time when CDF has been cut and there seems to be no one complaining about it. We are doing so because we know where we are and we really need to look at our financials and live within our means”, he observed.
To ensure that expenditures contained in the FY 2024/25 Appropriations Act are aligned to the revised fiscal framework, Hon. Mudavadi proposed rationalization of expenditure, adjustment of the projected revenue or borrowing, and implementation of policy measures to contain wastage.
“The National Treasury proposes to rationalize Tax Revenue for the Government of Kenya funded expenditure allocations in the recurrent and development budget for MDAs, including allocations to the Constitutional Commissions, Independent Offices, Parliament, Judiciary and Shareable allocation to County Governments.” Said PCS Mudavadi.
The PCS also proposed some additional allocations for critical government programmes including Kshs. 2 billion for coffee debts; Kshs. 1 billion for sugarcane farmers reforms; Kshs. 0.5 billion for KCC factories; Kshs. 0.5 billion for tree planting programme, Kshs. 0.45 billion for Kenanie Leather Factory and Kshs. 0.2 billion for Hides Fund.
