Posted on December, 14, 2018 at 09:48 am
By GIDEON KETER
Treasury CS Henry Rotich and a House committee yesterday clashed over the National Assembly’s resolution to have the final say in projects worth Sh1 billion and above.
The resolution was proposed by the Budget and Appropriations committee and the House agreed to amend the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
But Rotich said the resolution violates the Act as well as the constitutional principle of separation of power between the executive and the legislature.
“What the resolution means is that before we sign a contractual agreement, we must come to Parliament. This is not practical and not in line with the Constitution and the PFM Act," he told the Committee on Implementation
"If the resolution has to be implemented as it is, we will have challenges. Let Parliament play its oversight role.” He said the Budget and Appropriations committee chaired by Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichug'wa erred and the resolution should be reviewed.
Some of the multibillion-shilling projects that MPs have raised concerns over the manner in which their contracts were awarded include the standard gauge railway and the Sh15 billion national surveillance and security tender.
The SGR tender was awarded to China Road and Bridge Corporation in 2013, while Safaricom was awarded the security tender in 2015 to instal CCTV cameras and control centres in Nairobi and Mombasa.
But the Implementation committee stood its ground, saying the aim of the resolution was to control runaway government expenditures.
Narok North MP Moitalel ole Kenta told Rotich that the ministry has no option but to abide by the resolution. He said if the ministry faces any challenge, it should seek legal opinion from the office of the Attorney General.
“You cannot hide in law. Unless the decision is reversed, your hands are tied. The decision of Parliament was well informed. There have been instances where you have paid a lot of money without a budget,” the committee chairman said.
“The time for using Parliament to rubber stamp your decisions is over. The only option you have now is to write to us a legal opinion citing the misgivings of the resolution then we will present it to the House”.
Rotich was accompanied by Chief Administrative Secretary Nelson Gaichuhie and PS Kimani Thugge among other top Ministry officials said.
Source: The Star