The Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning Ukur Yatani has launched the Financial Year 2022/2023 and Medium Term Budget Preparation Process ahead of the usual time frame to enable prioritization of government programmes and engagement with stakeholders.
The CS said the Government budget plan will continue to focus on the theme ‘Building back better’ through targeted implementation of Economic Recovery Programmes (ERS) that will also be aligned with the Big Four Agenda.
“As we embark on the preparation of the next Financial Year Budgets and the Medium-Term Budget, we should be alive to the provisions of Article 201 of the Constitution and Section 35 (2) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 2012 which calls for public participation in all financial matters and active engagement of the public in the budget process,” said Yatani.
He said the budget process was essential in promoting transparency, accountability and good governance.
The CS who was speaking during the official launch at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, also urged Kenyans country to strictly adhere to Covid 19 protocols and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and World Health Organization in all their engagements.
Yatani reiterated the government’s commitment to ensure that there is value for money in public spending saying that the principles of efficiency, effectiveness in public spending was critical in ensuring that low-priority expenditures was given high-priority in service-delivery programmes.
“The output of the sector working group process will be an important input into the 2022 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), which will provide the framework for finalizing the Medium-Term Budget for the FY2022/23,” he added.
The CS also said that the fiscal consolidation policy remains key in the government’s pursuit to attaining debt sustainability.
“The policy’s main objective is to free resources to growth-enhancing programmes by gradually reducing the overall fiscal deficit and the pace of debt accumulation,” he added.
By Hamdi Mohamud
