Editorials

EDITORIAL: Explain extra budget cost

uhuru

President Uhuru Kenyatta shows his certificate after swearing in ceremony on November 28, 2017. PHOTO | Charles Kimani | DPPS

A presidential swearing-in is a relatively involving public event that a country spends its energies on, partly for the number and mix of guests involved, security concerns and the image of the country.

On this basis, the reports tabled in Parliament that the swearing-in of President Uhuru Kenyatta for his second term consumed Sh52 million more against the budgeted Sh300 million are worrying and require an in-depth assessment.

The extra cash is 17.3 per cent more, almost a fifth of the budget. While budgets can be altered, the day in question leaves no chance for huge gaps like this that jolt the taxpayer to adjust spending on such a short notice.

The Assumption of Office of the President Committee should explain this additional cost to the public, providing details on the needs and how the authorisation was done, knowing well that such allocations take care of contingency.

While the committee must be taken to task to explain the anomaly, we remind all public entities to painstakingly embrace financial discipline and fidelity to budgeting guidelines as a way of nurturing and protecting public confidence in public finance and governance.