The Public Debt and Privatization Committee chaired by Hon. Abdi Shurie (Balambala), held meetings with officials from various Directorates in the National Treasury.

The Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Directorate was the first to appear before the Committee, to discuss the key projects for the Financial Year 2023/2024.
The Director-General (DG) Mr. Christopher Kirigua informed the Committee that the Government has identified key priority sectors including water, housing, transport, infrastructure, trade and industry; to synergize with the private sector through the PPP framework.

“Public private partnerships remain a key pillar in achieving the Government’s fiscal consolidation agenda to mobilize private sector capital and spur economic growth and development, to be able to meet its priorities in the medium and long term," said Mr. Kirigua.

The DG noted that, to achieve this, projects will be identified and screened for commercial viability as PPPs, before being considered for implementation within the National Budget. In this regard, the PPP Directorate expects to mobilize an estimated Kshs. 50 billion within Financial Year 2023/24, to serve as capital for these projects.

The Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) led by the Deputy Accountant-General Ms. Esther Kitonyi, also presented their Performance Report for Financial Year 2022/23, noting that from December 2020 to 31 st May 2023, they disbursed a cumulative value of approximately Kshs. 5.64 billion to 3,781 MSMEs across 46 counties and 12 sectors of economy as reported by the banks through the Central Bank of
Kenya.

Out of this, 1,267 facilities have been fully repaid, representing credit amounting to Kshs.1.48 billion and a guaranteed commitment of Kshs. 371.2 million has been released for additional MSMEs.

The distribution of the CGS facilities included 2,194 small enterprises, 1,029 micro-enterprises and 558 medium enterprises. Further, the enterprises owned by women, youth and persons with disabilities received 20 percent of the total number of guaranteed facilities.

The committee was further informed  that during Financial Year 2022/23, approximately Kshs. 1.742 billion was disbursed to 1,291 MSMEs under the CGS, while the outstanding credit guarantees was Kshs. 1.1 billion, as at 30 th June 2023.

The Pensions Department led by Mr. Michael Kagika, the Secretary/Director of Pensions, also briefed the Committee on the pension payments under the Consolidated Fund Services between the Financial Year 2017/2018 and Financial Year 2023/24, noting that there was a progressive increase in pension related expenditure in the last 5 years, except for Financial Year 2018/19 and Financial Year 2022/2023, due to liquidity constraints on disbursement of funds from the Consolidated Fund.

There was however a significant increase in expenditure in FY 2021/22, due to the implementation of Public Service Superannuation Scheme (PSSS).