Lawmakers want principal secretaries and parastatal chiefs who introduce projects before completing existing ones penalised after their push for funds for a special audit on incomplete public projects hit a snag.
The Budget and Appropriation Committee of the National Assembly says stalled public projects have “become a special feature in our budget”, exerting funding pressures and racking up pending bills.
“There’s no adherence to the project guidelines issued by the National Treasury including the introduction of new projects before completion of existing ones despite thin spread of resources,” the parliamentary committee, chaired by Kanini Kega (Kieni), recommended in its report on Budget for the 2021/22.
“A policy must be implemented to ensure enforcement of PFM (Public Finance Act) and Treasury guidelines. Sanctions should be instituted to MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies) that introduce new projects before completion of existing ones.”
The Treasury has done a nation-wide stock-taking of all public projects for an analysis aimed at identifying those that qualify for “re-appraisal, re-prioritisation, and rationalisation”, according to the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) 2021 published in February.
This came on the back of a 2019 World Bank review of Kenya public expenditure which suggested that 522 projects worth Sh1.1 trillion out of 3,972 projects in the country at the time were significantly delayed, incomplete or stalled.
The legislators had in an earlier report on this fiscal year’s budget asked the Treasury to request Auditor-general Nancy Gatungu to conduct an audit on projects whose funding had been affected by budget cuts as a result of shortfalls in revenue due to Covid-19 pandemic knocks.
The audit was to be completed by April 2021 with a view to providing funds for completion of viable projects in the financial year starting July to avert further growth in incomplete projects.
“Auditing of projects affected budget cuts by the Auditor General require enhancement of the operations of the Office of the Auditor General,” the Treasury wrote in supporting information for the Budget Estimates for the fiscal year 2021/22 submitted to the House on April 29.
“This will be considered in the context of the FY 2020/21 Supplementary Estimates No.2 and the FY 2021/22 Budget.”
Treasury secretary Ukur Yatani, in the second supplementary budget sent to the House Thursday last week for approval, cut expenditure by Auditor General for this fiscal year by Sh158 million to Sh5.52 billion.
The budget has been raised to Sh5.86 billion for the next fiscal year, 3.1 percent rise from Sh5.68 billion initially allocated to the Office.
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