{UAH} Ocen/Pojim/Allan/Bobby/Gook/WBK: ‘No budget’ for Big 4 raises questions how it will work
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By STAR CORRESPONDENT
The Senate Committee on Finance is collecting views from stakeholders for the 2018/19 Budget Policy Statement amid rising pressure over the fulfillment of the Jubilee's "Big Four".
Covering manufacturing, universal healthcare, affordable housing and food security, the ambitious development agenda faces the risk of under-funding at a time the country is on the spot over the abnormal rise in its debt levels.
As at September 2017, Kenya's debt stood at Sh4.4 trillion prompting the International Monetary Fund to caution the country against the increased liability to "avoid any economic shocks in the future."
Faced with the pressure to honour its obligations, Kenya is set to follow Algeria and Egypt in floating sovereign bonds this year.
Sources at the Treasury have indicated that they will be seeking to borrow between $1.5 billion (Sh151.9 billion) and $3 billion (Sh303.8 billion) which is expected to be repaid between 2028 and 2032. "We will use the proceeds to pay Sh658.2 billion debt for this fiscal year and about Sh1 trillion for the 2018/2019 financial year," said the source in confidence.
On Tuesday, Treasury's director of budget Geoffrey Mwau told the Senate Committee on Finance that there was no budget allocation for the "Big Four", indicating that respective ministries would fund the agenda. Crucially, Mr Mwau stated that the national government would have to work closely with the county governments for the attainment of the "Big Four", some of which are devolved.
It is an assertion that has brought to the fore the question on Kenya's commitment to meeting the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security of 2003 and the Abuja Declaration of 2001 on Health.
At the Second Ordinary Assembly of the African Union in July 2003 in Maputo, African Heads of State and Government endorsed the "Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa" which contained several important decisions regarding agriculture.
Prominent among them was the "commitment to the allocation of at least 10 per cent of national budgetary resources to agriculture and rural development policy implementation within five years". On the other hand, the Abuja pronouncement set a target of allocating at least 15 per cent of their annual budget to improve the health sector.
On average, Kenya has been allocating 10 per cent of its total budget on this critical ministry. This is augmented in the draft budget policy statement for the 2018/2019 fiscal year, which ranks health ministry a distant fourth after transport, interior and energy. "While the draft is just but a draft, it gives an indication of how ministries fair," a source at the Treasury said.
Experts says there is an urgent need for the government to increase resources to the health sector, and hasten the introduction of the social health insurance system "so as to increase resources to the health sector." Such a move, they say, would also protect the households from excessive costs from private health providers.
However, even with the proposed increase in allocation of funds, they claim wrong priorities, wastage and leakages continue slugging the attainment of the Abuja Declaration.
While Counties have shown an appetite for increased budgetary allocation towards health, the purpose of the spending is always wanting such as emoluments and building facilities which lack staff, basic operational tools and equipment. "This would happen even when these facilities lack basics such as pharmaceutical non-pharmaceuticals," says Morris Aron, an economic analyst.
He adds: "When they (counties) spend, it's always on questionable stuff. For instance, they would purchase ICU machines and forget gloves. We all know why they go for the mega things- to siphon."
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