The expenditure on the country’s third President’s burial is contained in the national government’s supplementary estimates II for the 2021/23 financial year tabled in the National Assembly by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani on Tuesday.
The estimates, however, have not unbundled the expenditure to show how the money was allocated. President Kenyatta on April 21 announced the death of the former President and, nine days later, his remains were interred at his Nyeri home.
In the supplementary estimates, Mr Yatani is seeking the post facto approval of the National Assembly to regularise the Sh63.9 billion that was spent by the government in line with Article 223 of the constitution.
The areas covered in the mini budget include regularisation on fuel stabilisation, security and drought-related expenditures, adjustments in development partners financed projects and regularisation of approved additional expenditures and reallocations within government ministries, departments and other agencies.
The estimates include Sh15.81 billion regularisation to finance fuel subsidy to stabilise the fuel prices, Sh8 billion for the completion of the ongoing roads construction in the country and Sh1 billion for the meter gauge railway expended on the Naivasha inland container depot Lenana station.
Treasury is also seeking post facto approval by the House for the Sh1 billion fertiliser subsidy, which is an additional amount for the Sh5.73 billion approved in the supplementary I in the current financial year.
The National Assembly is also seeking the authority of the MPs to regularise the Sh600 million spent to host the Africities conference in Kisumu, which includes Sh200 million funded by the exchequer and Sh400 funded through the Appropriation In Aid (AIA). The approval of the mini budget by the MPs will increase the national government’s expenditure in the current financial year to Sh3.46 trillion from the Sh3.27 trillion that was approved by the National Assembly in the second week of June last year. This would later be revised to Sh3.39 trillion after the House approved Sh185.96 billion supplementary budget in April.
The increase reflects overall expenditure and net lending, which have been revised from the original projection at 25.4 percent to 25.9 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The approval of the mini budget will present an overall ministerial cumulative expenditure increase in the current financial year by 10.5 percent from the original approved budget estimates of which the recurrent expenditure will increase by 13.9 percent and development expenditure by four percent.
The increase is slightly above the provisions of Article 223 and will likely face resistance from MPs during the consideration of the estimates in the House.
Article 223(2) requires that, for any spending whose approved budget is inadequate to meet the needs as allocated, or in case of an emergency such as drought, floods, war, pandemic, the government must seek approval within two months after the first withdrawal of the money.
In the event that this post facto approval cannot be actualised within two months if for one reason or the other Parliament is not sitting, then the approval should be sought within two weeks of the sitting of the House.
The law also bars supplementary budget expenditures that contain new projects that have not been budgeted for in the budget as approved by the House.
Preparation of the mini budget has seen national government revenues revised from the original projection at 16.8 percent to 17.3 percent of the GDP.
The mini budget also comes with an increase in the fiscal deficit currently at Sh846 billion but which is projected at 8.1 percent of the GDP with net financing projected at 2.8 percent and net domestic financing at 5.3 percent of the GDP.
