BUDGETING PROCESS: IMPLEMENTATION
FOLLOW-UP OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
COMMITTEE AND AUDITOR GENERAL
RECOMMENDATIONS
PRESENTED BY
HON. ALEX MWIRU, MP
PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE – KENYA
INTRODUCTION
• The promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya in
August 2010 marked a very significant step in
advancing the principles of governance as articulated
under Article 10 of the Constitution.
• It encompasses sharing and devolution of power,
practice of the rule of law, exercise of democracy
and participation of the people, high levels of
integrity, increased transparency and accountability
in public service delivery for sustainable national
development and economic growth.
INTRODUCTION
• Parliament being the central oversight
organ no doubt holds the key to well
functioning democracies by ensuring
accountability in the management of public
funds and resources.
• Parliamentarians therefore need to play an
effective role in developing comprehensive
national policies to ensure good
governance and stem corruption.
PARLIAMENTARY INPUT IN THE BUDGET
PROCESS
• National budgets are public financial management
instruments reflecting government policies,
priorities, planning and implementation for
delivery of public goods and services. Budgets
therefore:
 Reflects citizens aspirations and priorities in
appropriating funds;
 Evaluate programs and review the activities of
government departments.
 Serve as a tool for development, management and
economic growth.
 Reflect government policies and set national priorities.
 They are systems of accountability and control over
government officials, ministries and departments, setting
expenditure limits and safeguarding against abuse of
public funds.
 As political tools, budgets are value ridden signaling the
government’s ideological commitment, political philosophy
and policy platform.
• In Kenya, the new Constitution puts Parliament at the centre
of the budget making process. This is a complete departure
from the previous system where the budget making was a
domain of the Executive and Parliament only came to learn of
the budgetary proposals on the National Budget Day together
with the rest of the citizens.
• According to Article 221 (i) of the Constitution,
the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Finance is
required to submit to the National Assembly
estimates of revenue and expenditure of the
national government for the next financial year
at least two months before the end of each
financial year.
• These estimates, together with those of the
Parliamentary Service Commission and the
Judiciary would then be considered by the
Budget Committee which makes
recommendation to the Assembly.
• In discussing and reviewing the estimates, the
Budget Committee will have engaged with all the
line Ministries through the various Departmental
Committees.
• The Budget Committee also seeks views from
the people through public hearings some of
which are taken on board when Committees
make recommendations to the National
Assembly.
• On adoption of the recommendations, they are
then considered by Treasury as the Minister
propose the final Budget with various
amendments and reallocations.
• Finally, the budget is presented in
Parliament as Appropriation Bill.
• This entire process therefore benefits
greatly as it is enriched by both the
parliamentary and public input.
• The process further enhances a sense of
ownership, creates awareness of
government programmes and draws focus
on the needs and aspirations of the
citizens at the grassroots level, besides
promoting public audit of government
programmes among others.
IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
COMMITTEE AND AUDITOR GENERAL
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Parliamentary Committees perform functions for which
Parliament in its corporate capacity is not well fitted to
perform. These include examining witnesses, sifting
through information and drawing up reasonable
conclusions.
• The Committee system is key to any parliamentary
democracy and it strives to achieve effective surveillance
over the Executive. Parliament has a moral responsibility
as custodian of public funds to assure the citizens that
their tax money and other public resources are wellmanaged by the Executive, and in the most efficient,
transparent and prudent manner.
• The Public Accounts Committee of Kenya is mandated
by Standing Order No. 187 to examine audited accounts
of government ministries and departments and make
recommendations on the utilization of the sums voted by
the House to meet public expenditure.
• In executing this mandate, the Committee examines the
annual audit reports of the Auditor General who is the
supreme auditor of public funds.
• Accounting Officers and other government officials are
then summoned by the Committee to answer to audit
queries relating to expenditures in their respective
ministries.
• Such hearings are open to the public and the media.
• Thereafter, the Committee develops its
recommendations and tables its report in Parliament for
debate and adoption.
• The Executive is then required to implement
those recommendations and report back to
Parliament through a Treasury Memorandum
detailing implementation status within sixty days.
• The Public Accounts Committee and Parliament
in general calling on the Executive to account
and implement those recommendations does
not entail giving instructions to the Government.
• The Executive arm of government takes its time
and does not feel obligated to move with speed
as Parliament would wish.
CHALLENGES
Some of the challenges faced by the Public
Accounts Committee therefore include:
• Lack of political will to conclusively implement
Committee recommendations, particularly those
that entail intense investigations and
prosecution.
• Political polarization in government circles and
party patronage which generally undermines the
fight against corruption by entertaining
compromises.
• Lack of focused and coordinated effort against
corruption by watchdog and other anti-corruption
agencies.
• Lack of formal and legally established follow-up mechanisms
by the Public Accounts Committee outside the Treasury
Memorandum which the Government treats casually as there
are no immediate sanctions Parliament can impose.
• Although the Auditor General acts as the technical arm of the
Committee and participates in the report-writing process, his
role is limited to following up and reporting whether the same
or similar queries are repeated or if any remedial action had
been taken during the following year’s reporting. He can
however conduct further investigations and establish the
extent of the implementation of the recommendations of
previous years’ reports. The observations can then be part of
subsequent reports.
• Due to lack of capacity and time constraints, it has not always
been possible for the Auditor General to physically verify and
adequately confirm that the issues responded to as having
been implemented by the Executive through the Treasury
Memorandum have been so implemented and satisfactorily.
• Public Accounts Committees deal with postmortem scrutiny of government expenditure.
This does not help much in terms of prevention
of possible misappropriation of funds by public
officers entrusted with their custody.
• The Executive inordinately takes too long to
implement Committee recommendations. As a
result, some public officers tend to
misappropriate funds entrusted to them since
there are no prompt punitive measures taken
against them to deter recurrence of such
incidents.
• Like most parliamentary committees, Public
Accounts Committee is not adequately financed
to enable it address its mandate adequately.
PROGRESS MADE
The Kenya National Assembly has established a
Committee on Implementation. Its mandate includes
scrutiny of resolutions of the House including adopted
Committee reports, petitions and the undertakings
given by the Government on the floor of the House and
examine:a) Whether or not such decisions and undertakings have
been implemented, the extent to which they have been
implemented, and whether such implementation has
taken place within the minimum time necessary.
b) Whether or not legislation passed by the House has
been operationalized, the extent to which such
operationalization has taken place and within the
minimum time necessary
c) The Committee is further mandated to propose
sanctions to the House on any Minister who
fails to implement resolutions of the House.
• Since its establishment two years ago, the
Committee on Implementation has managed to
pursue the implementation of various
committee recommendations as well as
undertakings given by Ministers on the floor of
the House.
• The Committee is however faced with many
issues to handle as it has to deal with both the
old recommendations and resolutions as well
as the emerging and current ones forwarded to
it by all the other Parliamentary Committees.
• Lack of adequate budget to pursue issues
that require physical visits as resolutions
and assurances are quite many.
• Apart from the usual financial constraints,
it is also faced with staffing shortfalls, to
enable it adequately handle all the issues
at stake.
• The efforts of this Committee have
however seen the reopening of two major
factories which had closed doors leading
to the loss of hundreds of jobs.
CONCLUSION
• The combined efforts of the Public Accounts
Committee and the Auditor General are crucial
in enhancing accountability, transparency and
good management of the scarce public financial
resources.
• It is critical that the two bodies pay special
attention to areas prone to systemic financial
leakages through impropriety, fraud and
corruption.
• They should insist on automation of financial
records and reports as well as improve
frequency of reporting by coming up with
quarterly reports to foster prompt
implementation.
• In order to improve financial oversight in
governance, Public Accounts Committee,
as well as other watchdog committees will
need to demand of the Executive
increased accountability, integrity and
good governance across all public sector
institutions.
• They should demand that the Executive
deliberates on national commitments and
educate the public on its civic duties in
order to promote a culture of national
integrity and ethics.
“There is prosperity in Transparency and
Accountability but there is more of the
same in positive cultural and attitude
change, especially when we owe it in
reciprocative trust between us and the
people we represent”
I THANK YOU