How Uhuru spent Sh54bn without Parliament approval
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration went on a spending spree in the run-up to the August 9 General Election, sinking Sh54.7 billion in several projects without Parliament’s approval.
Data from the National Treasury presented to Members of the National Assembly yesterday shows that the government used the billions to, among other things, provide subsidies for fuel and maize flour.
Lawmakers attending a five-day retreat were shocked to learn that the expenditure was not approved by Parliament. They were informed that the National Treasury would seek their help to regularise the matter once House sittings start.
Members of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), who presented the data to MPs, regretted that the unauthorised expenditure would adversely affect implementation of various projects, owing to the resultant budgetary shortfall.
The money is above the Sh3.3 trillion that lawmakers approved in June this year for the 2022/2023 financial year.
“We are now in September, two months into the 2022/2023 financial year, and already we have spent Sh54.6 billion. Soon, you will see the Executive asking us to approve this money,” a document from the PBO office shows.
It adds: “This money was never budgeted for in the 2022/2023 financial year. The net effect is that programmes for this period will not be achieved.”
Of the Sh54.7 billion, Sh16.6 billion was spent by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining on fuel subsidy while Sh4.5 billion was disbursed to the State Department for Crop Development and Agricultural Research for the maize flour subsidy.
