National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi addressing journalists on highlights of his first 50 days in office at Treasury building, Nairobi on October 16, 2024.
The National Treasury wants Parliament to approve an additional Sh17.7 billion to finance various programmes, including a multinational security mission led by the Kenya police in Haiti.
The Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi, said the Treasury has approved the additional funding including Sh2.16 billion for the Multinational Security Support Mission to Haiti.
Out of the Sh2,161,366,223, Sh181.09 million has already been disbursed to the National Police Service for security operations in the gang-led Caribbean country.
The United States in June released Sh14.1 billion to cover the purchase of equipment that the Kenyan-led security team in Haiti said it needed. Kenya has said it requires funding of Sh36 billion ($237.55 million) annually to support the 1000 troops it sent to Haiti.
The Treasury has also approved the withdrawal of Sh807.5 million to the State Department for Immigration Services, for settlement of the Kenya Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (eTA) fees received into the E-citizen settlement account.
A further Sh2.3 billion will be spent on the East Africa Regional Statistics Program for Results, Sh2 billion for the State Department for Arid and Semi-Arid, Sh2.3 billion to the State Department for Roads and Sh756 million for the State Department for Agriculture.
Article 223 of the Constitution and Section 44 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 allows the national government to spend money that has not been appropriated by Parliament, if the amount appropriated for any purpose is insufficient or a need has arisen for expenditure, for which no amount has been appropriated or in a case of withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund.
“In such circumstances, the approval of Parliament for any spending under Article 223 should be sought within two months after the first withdrawal,” Mr Mbadi said.
“In this regard, forwarded herewith please find a schedule of the financial year 2024/25 additional expenditure approvals granted under Article 223 of the Constitution as of November 15, 2024, for your necessary action.”
The National Treasury has approved an additional allocation of Sh78 billion to the State Department for Energy, out of which Sh190 million will be spent on the Kenya-Tanzania power interconnections, Sh405 million for last mile connectivity for electrification of public facilities under the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), and Sh180 million to support Export-Import Bank of India funded projects.
An allocation of Sh243.8 million has been made towards the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation fund, Sh2.2 billion for Olkaria 1 and IV funded by the European Investment Bank and Sh1.4 billion for last mile connectivity project funded by Agency Francoise Development (AfD).
The Treasury also wants Parliament to ratify the withdrawal of Sh560 million by the State Department for Economic Planning and an additional Sh2.3 billion expenditure under the East Africa Regional Statistics Program for Results (EARSPforR).
The State Department for Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) has requested Sh2 billion for drought interventions for the September-October period while the State Department for Agriculture will get an additional Sh756 million to support the Kenya Cereal Enhancement Programme (KCEP-CRAL).
The Sh3.2 billion allocated to the State Department for Roads will be spent on the South Sudan Eastern Africa Transport, Trade and Development Facilitation Project.
The National Treasury has been allocated an additional Sh560 million for Public Finance Management and E-Government Project.
The State Department for Economic Planning will spend Sh2.3 billion for National Statistics Information Services and Ke-Eastern Africa Regional Statistics Program for Results.
The request for more funding for security operations followed the signing of an agreement between Kenya and Haiti that was witnessed by President William Ruto and Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henri at State House, Nairobi.
“This money (Sh2.2 billion) we are spending on behalf of the UN; we are the ones making the payment so the money comes from our exchequer because these are our officers. So, we pay and they (UN) refund, but now we have to recognise it because it was not in the budget, we have to recognise it and the law says two months should not elapse. When we are doing supplementary budget, we will reflect it as both income and expenditure,” Mr Mbadi said.
