Parliament, on June 29, passed its second supplementary budget into law. This comes after the Treasury CS Ukur Yatani presented the Ksh3.6 Trillion 2021/22 Budget on June 10, 2021.
The National Assembly approved the treasury to spend Ksh22.6 Billion in the clearing of pending bills and purchasing COVID-19 vaccines by Thursday, June 30.
The chairperson of the Budget Committee, Kanini Kega, stated Ksh7.6 Billion of the supplementary budget will be spent purchasing the vaccines.
"In this supplementary, we have Ksh7.6 Billion of the vaccines and as we speak I've also seen from 411 that the World Bank has also approved another Ksh 14 Billion," commented Kega.
Kega also pointed out Yatani's directive to all ministries in the clearing of all pending bills by June 30 while making his remarks on the revenue-raising measures and budget highlights.
While approving the Supplementary Appropriations (No.2) Bill, members of parliament criticized the treasury for failing to clear pending bills.
Minority Leader John Mbadi shared his view on the supplementary budget. "I will start by saying the Supplementary budget [2...at one point 3] has become the tradition. Something that used to be unheard of from the last parliament."
"Mr Speaker, it is a clear indication of lack of proper planning at the Treasury. The Treasury, as the ministry rated number one in terms of performance, should lead by example in proper planning," stated Mbadi.
Through the committee of supply, the House by a dissolution passed on Thursday, June 24, approved the report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee on the second supplementary estimates for the financial year 2020/21.
In reviewing the bill, the committee held one meeting where extensive deliberations were held.
Elsewhere, President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to sign into law new airtime and bank loan taxes posed to come into effect on July 1.
The report was tabled in Parliament by the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning and was excluded in the Finance Bill 2021.
