Members of Parliament want the administration of the covid-19 emergency fund to be taken away from the National Treasury and placed under the National Assembly.
This emerged from Tuesday’s afternoon debate on the budgets and appropriation committee’s report on the 2020-2021 budget estimate.
The budget and appropriation committee also wants administration of the covid-19 emergency fund to be placed under the oversight of the National Assembly.
The committee members say there is need for prudent management of the funds being donated by various entities.
The MPs also called for urgent re-negotiation of Kenya’s public debt repayment terms.
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On Thursday this week, the National Treasury cabinet secretary is expected to table the spending plan for the period between July 2020 and June 2021.
Estimation indicates the budget stands at 3.22 trillion shillings. This is an increase from the 3 trillion shillings budget for the current financial year.
Moreover, the National Treasury is planning to borrow 823 billion shillings from both domestic and external sources over the next financial year.
Legislators took this moment to flack the need to tame the country’s appetite for debt.
The legislators also delved into the committee’s proposal to have arrears by state entities criminalized.
A section of MPs called for considerable caution before adopting such a provision.
“We cannot say that a public officer must pay pending bills at the peril of going to jail, without adding that the public officer must ascertain the legitimacy of that bill,” said Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo.
The MPs have also called on the government to consider alternative means of raising revenue. This is 172 billion shillings which will be foregone in tax revenue.
This is because of VAT and Pay as You Earn(PAYE) relief measures which were put in place. The measures were to protect Kenyans from adverse effects of covid-19 pandemic.
