The government has tabled the first budget totalling Ksh 3.6 trillion in the financial year 2023/2024 with Ksh 700 billion of the budget financed through borrowing.
The budget will increase to Ksh 251 billion from retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s budget which was Ksh 3.39 trillion.
The government plans to spend at least Ksh 2.5 trillion on recurrent expenses and Ksh 769.3 billion on the outlined developments.
According to the budget policy statement tabled by the Budget and Appropriation Committee Chair Ndindi Nyoro the National Government will receive Ksh 2.25 Trillion with devolved units allocated Ksh 385 billion.
Of the Ksh 2.25 trillion, Ksh 2.1 trillion has been shared out to the Executive with Parliament getting Ksh 40 billion and Judiciary receiving an allocation of Ksh 22.9 billion.
The Auditor General has received a portion of Ksh 7.6 billion, the Equalization Fund Ksh 7.8 billion, the Conditional Grant Ksh 44 billion, and the Medical Equipment Scheme Ksh 4.5 billion.
The government will be forced to borrow Ksh 700 billion out of which Ksh 198.6 billion will be raised from external sources and Ksh 521.5 billion from the domestic market.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has been on the other hand tasked to collect Ksh 3 trillion in the financial year 2023/24, up from Ksh 2 trillion collected in the last financial year.
The taxman has been directed to implement various tax policy measures to boost tax collection to be in tandem with the revenue target.
While tabling the budget report, Ndindi Nyoro stated that the budget has focused on vital pillars in the Kenya Kwanza regime’s bottom-up economic agenda which comprises Health Care, Agriculture, and Housing.
“We foresee an economy that will be growing at 6 percent at a time when the global economy will be growing at 2 percent,” the Budget and Appropriation Committee Chair Ndindi Nyoro said.
He clarified that in the 2023/2024 budget policy statements, the National Government Constituency Development Fund ceiling had been increased from Ksh 44 billion to Ksh 55 Billion.
“After consultations with the executive, some of the recommendations that we have made are in tandem with the executive as they appreciate most of the work will be done through CDF. To this effect and on the ceiling it is important for the members to note that we have added an extra Ksh 1 billion to take care of our women representatives,” Nyoro stated.
“Something interesting that this house should take note of is that we have increased the CDF ceiling from Ksh 44 billion n in the last financial year to Ksh 55 billion which means that each constituent will get an additional Ksh 20 to 30 million,” Nyoro added in a statement.
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While backing up the motion, Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu supported the Budget Policy Statement for the year 2023/2024 but he, however, argued in the implementation of programs by both units of government should be a clear implementation framework.
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“We have realized that as a result of not having a clear implementation framework, we are not able to implement most of the projects we put under conditional grants,” Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu said.
On the other hand, Emuhaya Member of Parliament Omboko Milemba applauded the efforts to increase the budget vaulting of the NGCDF saying it will go a long way in terms of spurring growth at the constituency level, especially in the education sector.
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“We must work very hard so that we showcase because we have many distractors outside there who don’t believe in our work. We have to work very hard so as to prove that this is a better channel of getting money to the ground,” Omboko Milemba said.
