Budget reading to proceed to Thursday after Muturi gives nod

NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 5 – National Treasury CS Ukur Yattani has been cleared to present the 2022/2023 National Budget on Thursday by the Speaker of the National Assembly.

This is despite the final estimates and the 2022 Finance Bill not being submitted to the Houses.

Speaker  Justin Muturi had earlier stated that he would be reluctant to give the go-ahead for Yatani to read the Sh3.31 trillion budget unless Parliament approves a Division of Revenue Bill, 2022 that shares revenue between counties and the national government.

He directed that the final estimates and Finance Bill will now be tabled after the budget reading.

Muturi says it has become necessary to make the change in timelines because of the truncated Parliament calendar given the upcoming August 9 General Election which will see MPs adjourn indefinitely in June.

The High Court in 2020 ruled that the Division of Revenue Bill must be approved by Parliament before the tabling of Budget Estimates and reading of budget speech.

A three-judge bench in a High Court petition number 277 and 232 of 2019 ruled that future budget policy pronouncements unveiled in Parliament without the inclusion of the division revenue bill will be unconstitutional.

The Division of Revenue Bill, which MPs have approved, is currently stuck in the Senate.

If the Senate proposes amendments, the Bill will head to mediation where an equal number of members from both Houses will be picked to hammer out an agreeable version.