The Budget and Appropriations Committee led by the Chairperson, Hon. Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), finalized consideration of the Supplementary Estimates 1 for the Financial Year 2024/25, ahead of its tabling in the House this week.

This follows the submission of the Estimates by the Principal Secretary, National Treasury and Economic Planning, on Friday, July 12 , 2024. Hon. Nyoro cited the critical economic state the country is in, urging the Committee Chairpersons to look into areas where there is dire need for funding, and those whose expenditures can be rationalized.

The Committee Chairpersons presented their observations and recommendations drawn from the meetings they held with the MDAs under their purview earlier last week.

They proposed areas that funds can be reallocated, decreased or increased, based on the magnitude of the projects being undertaken. 

Further, they highlighted challenges presented by the MDAs and SAGAs that are bound to be experienced as a result of the budget cuts.

The Supplementary Estimates 1 for the Financial Year 2024/25 proposed a reduction of Kshs.156.4 billion across the three arms of Government, Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices. The main driver of this decrease is a reduction of Kshs.122.4 billion in development expenditure, targeted at projects that are domestically financed through exchequer issues.

However, projects financed by development partner loans and grants amounting to over Kshs.240 billion have been retained in the budget.

The recurrent expenditure for Ministries were reduced by Kshs.34 billion. This modest reduction has ensured that critical recurrent items amounting to over Kshs.100 billion such as the proposed allocation for free day secondary education, free primary education and Junior
Secondary Schools have not been rationalized.

On the other hand, the Consolidated Fund Services (CFS) expenditures have increased by Kshs.23.8 billion, while the County Equitable Share has been reduced by Kshs.20 billion from Kshs.400.1 billion to Kshs.380.1 billion. However, as a result of carryovers from the FY 2023/24 amounting to around Kshs.30.8 billion, the Equitable Share to counties reflected in the FY 2024/25 Supplementary Estimates No. 1 is Kshs.410.95 billion which is Kshs.10.8 billion above the Division of Revenue Act, 2024 figure of Kshs.400.1 billion.