THEFT WATCH! Collusion between Treasury, CBK & KRA

[job]

Has someone has been fleecing the Treasury of cash collected in tax?


Jaindi Kisero


www.nation.co.ke/blogs/-/446696/1147524/-/view/asBlogPost/-/14evdxcz/-/index.html


Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2011 | By JAINDI KISERO


Two years ago, there was a public uproar when Mr Mwalimu Mati’s Mars Group blew the whistle over the Sh 9.2 billion errors his group had uncovered in the accounts and budget documents.

It was a very grave matter because what the Mars Group announced cast aspersions on the credibility of the figures in government accounts, implying that Treasury had presented cooked books in Parliament.

The initial reaction by the Treasury was to trash the findings as inaccurate and dismissing Mars Group as a mere busybody with neither the capacity nor expertise to question Treasury’s work.

But as it turned out, it was Mr Mati and his group who had the last laugh; Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta was forced to eat humble pie and admit that those grotesque errors existed in the books he had tabled in April 2009.

The irony of it all was that Uhuru did not stop at merely affirming the errors. He came up with even bigger errors.

The Mars Group are up to even more mischief. This time around, they have painstakingly read through reports of the Controller and Auditor-General for the last two years to study and analyse the comments the Auditor-General has been making on the state of revenues and taxes which the government collects.

I had the chance to peruse through the latest delivery by the Group. The disclosures are absolutely sensational, to say the least.

It is a must reading for anyone interested in following how the government accounts for the revenue it receives from the Kenya Revenue Authority or any other sources.

Away from the limelight, the Controller and Auditor-General has been qualifying several revenue accounts, and flatly refusing to issue certificates to the Treasury.

Here is a bit of background. Every year, the Treasury presents the Controller and Auditor-General a revenue statement, disclosing details of revenues received on income tax, VAT and corporation taxes.

The accounts for all revenue categories are kept separately. The gist of the new report by Mars Group is that the Auditor has discovered several cases where records of revenues received by KRA does not tally with what was actually received by the Treasury.

There are also cases where accounts of revenues banked at the Central Bank differ from the records kept by the receiver of revenues.

Where there are material differences, what the Auditor-General has been doing has been to exclude such revenue categories from the general certificate issued to the Treasury at the end of the year.

Is it just a matter of sloppy accounting? We all know that accounts which cannot reconcile are a recipe for irregular dealings.

As it is, the evidence in the reports suggests that unscrupulous individuals working in the revenue departments may be colluding to siphon off money between the time the revenues reach the Kenya Revenue Authority and the time the money hits the Exchequer account at the Treasury.

Whichever way you look at it, what the Mars Group has revealed is a total outrage. Imagine a situation where an external auditor declines to issue certificates on revenue accounts of a company.

Yet the report by the Group shows that in 2008, the Auditor-General excluded several statements from the general certificate it issued to Treasury.

In the year ending June 2009, the Auditor-General issued a certificate to only one revenue statement out of more than 10 such accounts. The revenues the Auditor is unable to reconcile runs into hundreds of billions of shillings.

The Public Accounts Committee should move quickly and pressure the Treasury to explain what it is unable to reconcile in its statements of revenues.

But even if MPs decide to look the other way, Treasury must brace itself for increased public scrutiny on its revenue accounts.

Increasingly, citizens are organising themselves into associations that are ready to bring the government to account on how it spends public taxes.

From residents associations and business lobbies, we are back to the world of taxpayer associations agitating for change.

It is one thing for the government to be accused of spending money irregularly, and it is another to be accused of messing up with revenues.

[e-mail]

[nalinali]

Job
What Jaindi writes about are the telltale signs of accounting misdeeds that I believe have been going on for as long as Kibaki has maintained an ethnic stranglehold of the country’s finances. I deliberately introduce the ethnic angle because I believe that unfettered access to public coffers is one reason why the ruling elite, defined largely in ethnic terms, is unwilling to submit to open processes be they elections, judicial administration, and or acquisition or disposal of public assets and the privatization of key institutions. When we talk of a country mortgaged to a few, this is it.
With rising inflation and the resultant public restlessness, you can see where it has gotten us.

The reason why I cannot get over the mars revelation last year and Uhuru’s explanation of computer errors is not so much that some mischief was fingered out, but that the parliament and the country seemed to have accepted Uhuru’s explanation. I other words, our revenue generation and accounting procedures is not subjected to principles of accountable practices, but to the capacity of public officials to explain them away. We saw the same with the Japan, Embassy deals Laico saga, The Qatar Airport transaction, the manipulation of budgetary allocations by invoking the guise of secrecy on security matters etc. This country is being robbed day in day out and as long as deliberate fraud can be rationalized on account of simple errors, we are in trouble.

[reporter911]

Apr 19, 2011 22:20:25 GMT 3 job said:

Has someone has been fleecing the Treasury of cash collected in tax?


Jaindi Kisero


www.nation.co.ke/blogs/-/446696/1147524/-/view/asBlogPost/-/14evdxcz/-/index.html


Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2011 | By JAINDI KISERO


Two years ago, there was a public uproar when Mr Mwalimu Mati’s Mars Group blew the whistle over the Sh 9.2 billion errors his group had uncovered in the accounts and budget documents.

It was a very grave matter because what the Mars Group announced cast aspersions on the credibility of the figures in government accounts, implying that Treasury had presented cooked books in Parliament.

The initial reaction by the Treasury was to trash the findings as inaccurate and dismissing Mars Group as a mere busybody with neither the capacity nor expertise to question Treasury’s work.

But as it turned out, it was Mr Mati and his group who had the last laugh; Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta was forced to eat humble pie and admit that those grotesque errors existed in the books he had tabled in April 2009.

The irony of it all was that Uhuru did not stop at merely affirming the errors. He came up with even bigger errors.

The Mars Group are up to even more mischief. This time around, they have painstakingly read through reports of the Controller and Auditor-General for the last two years to study and analyse the comments the Auditor-General has been making on the state of revenues and taxes which the government collects.

I had the chance to peruse through the latest delivery by the Group. The disclosures are absolutely sensational, to say the least.

It is a must reading for anyone interested in following how the government accounts for the revenue it receives from the Kenya Revenue Authority or any other sources.

Away from the limelight, the Controller and Auditor-General has been qualifying several revenue accounts, and flatly refusing to issue certificates to the Treasury.

Here is a bit of background. Every year, the Treasury presents the Controller and Auditor-General a revenue statement, disclosing details of revenues received on income tax, VAT and corporation taxes.

The accounts for all revenue categories are kept separately. The gist of the new report by Mars Group is that the Auditor has discovered several cases where records of revenues received by KRA does not tally with what was actually received by the Treasury.

There are also cases where accounts of revenues banked at the Central Bank differ from the records kept by the receiver of revenues.

Where there are material differences, what the Auditor-General has been doing has been to exclude such revenue categories from the general certificate issued to the Treasury at the end of the year.

Is it just a matter of sloppy accounting? We all know that accounts which cannot reconcile are a recipe for irregular dealings.

As it is, the evidence in the reports suggests that unscrupulous individuals working in the revenue departments may be colluding to siphon off money between the time the revenues reach the Kenya Revenue Authority and the time the money hits the Exchequer account at the Treasury.

Whichever way you look at it, what the Mars Group has revealed is a total outrage. Imagine a situation where an external auditor declines to issue certificates on revenue accounts of a company.

Yet the report by the Group shows that in 2008, the Auditor-General excluded several statements from the general certificate it issued to Treasury.

In the year ending June 2009, the Auditor-General issued a certificate to only one revenue statement out of more than 10 such accounts. The revenues the Auditor is unable to reconcile runs into hundreds of billions of shillings.

The Public Accounts Committee should move quickly and pressure the Treasury to explain what it is unable to reconcile in its statements of revenues.

But even if MPs decide to look the other way, Treasury must brace itself for increased public scrutiny on its revenue accounts.

Increasingly, citizens are organising themselves into associations that are ready to bring the government to account on how it spends public taxes.

From residents associations and business lobbies, we are back to the world of taxpayer associations agitating for change.

It is one thing for the government to be accused of spending money irregularly, and it is another to be accused of messing up with revenues.

[e-mail]

No need to look any further!! some of the money was being carried in a brief case by Uhuru Kenyatta once it was stolen at the airport, he distanced himself from the briefcase saga..
Uhuru Kenyatta and before him Amos Kimunya have been known to fleece the government coffers, just imagine what Mars Group wasn't able to catch them doing? sends shivers..all around..

[adongo23456]

job & nalinali

A couple of things.

1. Could one of our resourceful folks get the Mars report and post it for us to eyeball. The last time the Mars Group exposed Uhuru's tricks it was the public reaction and anger that forced the back off with their useless excuses. So we need to get this report and see what we can do with it.

2. It is disturbing that the for two straight years the Auditor General has refused to issue annual certificates to the Treasury on various revenue streams and not a word from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). I know the parliamentary watchdogs or committees has become an endangered species.

The KKK politics have turned the committees into practical jokes. The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs has become so dysfunctional it can't even meet as the Ruto boys try to buy it. Today the Speaker, Hon. Marende told them if they keep up the foolishness, Parliament will ignore them and take the bills to other committees or directly to parliament.

My point here is that with cartels running the Treasury and the KRA as well as the CBK, with parliamentary committees paralyzed with the toxic KKK politics where all that matters is political games at every level, with an election a year a way and the stakes the highest we have seen since 2002, we are going to need some other voices to pick up the slack and take the battle to the thieves in the Treasury. So the more information we can get out there, the better.

3. For the first time that I can remember, Kenyans came out in modest numbers to protest against their economic conditions, the price of fuel, the price of food and the sheer inability of the average Kenyan to just eat something and get through the day. That is a very important development. People can't afford food and in contrast they see obscene opulence and gross waste of public money by their government including huge amounts to protect suspected mass murderers. Something just doesn't add up from their perspective. That is an explosive mix.

4. Labour Day is coming in about a week and a half. COTU is demanding some minimum wage. Sadly Atwoli and his team really do not have the sophistication and mindset to mobilize the working people of Kenya to get serious with their demands. So it will be the usual chest thumping and useless threats. But beyond that the working folks are fed up. They see nothing coming their way.

May be now is the time for our civil society folks including the mars group to find ways to work directly with workers organizations to start building a movement that can tap on the strategic reserviour of Kenyan working people struggling to just feed themselves and their families.

There us a lot of work ahead.

[reporter911]

Apr 20, 2011 2:38:11 GMT 3 adongo23456 said:

job & nalinali

A couple of things.

1. Could one of our resourceful folks get the Mars report and post it for us to eyeball. The last time the Mars Group exposed Uhuru's tricks it was the public reaction and anger that forced the back off with their useless excuses. So we need to get this report and see what we can do with it.

2. It is disturbing that the for two straight years the Auditor General has refused to issue annual certificates to the Treasury on various revenue streams and not a word from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). I know the parliamentary watchdogs or committees has become an endangered species.

The KKK politics have turned the committees into practical jokes. The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs has become so dysfunctional it can't even meet as the Ruto boys try to buy it. Today the Speaker, Hon. Marende told them if they keep up the foolishness, Parliament will ignore them and take the bills top other committees or directly to parliament.

My point here is that with cartels running the Treasury and the KRA as well as the CBK, with parliamentary committees paralyzed with the toxic KKK politics where all that matters is political games at every level, with an election a year a way and the stakes the highest we have seen since 2002, we are going to need some other voices to pick up the slack and take the battle to the thieves in the Treasury. So the more information we can get out there, the better.

3. For the first time that I can remember, Kenyans came out in modest numbers to protest against their economic conditions, the price of fuel, the price of food and the sheer inability of the average Kenyan to just eat something and get through the day. That is a very important development. People can't afford food and in contrast they see obscene opulence and gross waste of public money by their government including huge amounts to protect suspected mass murderers. Something just doesn't add up from their perspective. That is an explosive mix.

4. Labour Day is coming in about a week and a half. COTU is demanding some minimum wage. Sadly Atwoli and his team really do not have the sophistication and mindset to mobilize the working people of Kenya to get serious with their demands. So it will be the usual chest thumping and useless threats. But beyond that the working folks are fed up. They see nothing coming their way.

May be now is the time for our civil society folks including the mars group to find ways to work directly with workers organizations to start building a movement that can tap on the strategic reserviour of Kenyan working people struggling to just feed themselves and their families.

There us a lot of work ahead.

So Atwoli says here he might call for a workers strike?

[job]

Apr 20, 2011 2:38:11 GMT 3 adongo23456 said:

job & nalinali

A couple of things.

1. Could one of our resourceful folks get the Mars report and post it for us to eyeball. The last time the Mars Group exposed Uhuru's tricks it was the public reaction and anger that forced the back off with their useless excuses. So we need to get this report and see what we can do with it.

I'm unable to get hold of the Mars Report. Anyone with luck finding it?

2. It is disturbing that the for two straight years the Auditor General has refused to issue annual certificates to the Treasury on various revenue streams and not a word from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). I know the parliamentary watchdogs or committees has become an endangered species.

I precisely knew that Uhuruto's stranglehold on MPs had more to do with just politics. There had to be big taxpayer muthendi involved. Sponsoring MPs to the Hague, flying them in choppers to rally afer rally, and dishing them weekly hand-outs to spew ethnic epithets is a very expensive operation. I can bet it's all on taxpayers cost.


That's how callous and diabolical these impunity merchants are. Give them an opportunity to steal and they do it without batting an eyelid.


It becomes quite difficult therefore, to expect the same beneficiary MPs to investigate the source of largess that fetes them weekly. They will not bite the hand that feeds them.

The KKK politics have turned the committees into practical jokes. The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs has become so dysfunctional it can't even meet as the Ruto boys try to buy it. Today the Speaker, Hon. Marende told them if they keep up the foolishness, Parliament will ignore them and take the bills to other committees or directly to parliament.

These committees are not only killing Parliament's oversight role in checking public finances, they are also, at the behest of the Ocampo-6, subverting the implementation of the new constitution. Marende called them out!


How do you expect them for instance to chaperone legislative Bills which will put more scrutiny on land reforms - amidst the Kenyatta family's massive land-grabs, and Ruto's perennial land-thieving?


It is precisely these Parliamentary committees, held-hostage by the Ocampo-6 (at taxpayer cost), that will be used as vehicles to alter, amend, water-down, and even kill the spirit of the new constitution. They will be asked to hush as Treasury is fleeced. They will instead be told to remain busy distracting the public by constantly attacking the boogey man Raila. .

My point here is that with cartels running the Treasury and the KRA as well as the CBK, with parliamentary committees paralyzed with the toxic KKK politics where all that matters is political games at every level, with an election a year a way and the stakes the highest we have seen since 2002, we are going to need some other voices to pick up the slack and take the battle to the thieves in the Treasury. So the more information we can get out there, the better.


3. For the first time that I can remember, Kenyans came out in modest numbers to protest against their economic conditions, the price of fuel, the price of food and the sheer inability of the average Kenyan to just eat something and get through the day. That is a very important development. People can't afford food and in contrast they see obscene opulence and gross waste of public money by their government including huge amounts to protect suspected mass murderers. Something just doesn't add up from their perspective. That is an explosive mix.

You are very right. This battle must betaken directly to the people. People must be involved directly. They must see that they are being robbed by the KKK architects, while being distracted in stupid rallies.


The civil society must take lead. The whistle-blowing bodies that act as public-watch eyes should take leadership. Where is Mwalimu Mati when we need him? Where is Transparency International?


We too have our role to play. Never underestimate the role of JUKWAA and other similar platforms. Phil, these urgent matters need to get to facebook and other social media sites. They must be connected to the direct suffering of Kenyans amidst the escalating prices of food and transportation.



KKK is fleecing Treasury daily, stiffling Parliamentary scrutiny, anddistracting the public in diversionary political rallies, as the people starve and suffer consequences of their looting. We must not forget to join Miguna in penning these for the dailies.


Adongo, I think it's just about time you too, started sharing your lively op-eds that we enjoyed in the old Kenya Times. Find time/space in the Star or Standard - let me warn you that the Daily Nation will treat your opeds with a ten foot-pole.

4. Labour Day is coming in about a week and a half. COTU is demanding some minimum wage. Sadly Atwoli and his team really do not have the sophistication and mindset to mobilize the working people of Kenya to get serious with their demands. So it will be the usual chest thumping and useless threats. But beyond that the working folks are fed up. They see nothing coming their way.

COTU is firmly under the lock-and-key of the government. NSIS long took care of the double-dealing Atwoli, who knows his limits at populism. Nothing genuine can come from this current outfit - merely another noisy bureaucracy that's not any different from the KKK controlled Parliament. Atwoli is nothing but a faded, spent, all bark, no bite dog - that workers have now become tired of. .



Workers might need to start thinking outside the box. Surpise, surprise, surprise! They may want to start thinking of a coup within COTU. It will need serious mobilizers of the Mboya calibre. A youthful but strong face that cuts through the tribal divide. Hey youthful workers with leadership abilities, muster the courage, organize, and even seek help (civil society, el al.,) if you've got what it takes. Funds for mobilization are staring you in the face - if you open your eyes. The urgency of now, and the tough economic conditions, can actually propel the initiative if it gets organized.

May be now is the time for our civil society folks including the mars group to find ways to work directly with workers organizations to start building a movement that can tap on the strategic reserviour of Kenyan working people struggling to just feed themselves and their families.

You sum it up well. That's what has all along been elusive. It can be a start to the bigger vision of JUKWAA's Onyango Oloo, to have Kenyan workers, farmers, peasants, women, youth, students, and all other taxpayers, merging their respective collective voices, in one democratic thrust for change in Kenya - bigger than ODM and PNU.

And again, you have the last word.

There us a lot of work ahead.

[nalinali]

Job

It is just as good that you started this thread. There needs to be a more intense focus on the way our finances are managed. It is clear that as far as the Michuki-Kimunya-uhuru (successive Fin Ministers)run financial docket is concerned, resources are primarily for the self-profiteering mischief of a few at the expense of the much needed developmental purpose as should be in a functional and accountable fiscal and monetary regime.

Topdays revelation about moneys for soft loans to small traders (mwananchi) being diverted to select banks for high stakes interest loans is just another revelation that adds to the examples that all is not well in treasury. What strikes me in this latest report is that it is none other than an assistant minister who together with another legislator deem it critical to go public on the matter. It adds to the urgency of the matter considering their ethnicity. This country is being run down in full public glare.

---------------

www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/MPs+raise+alarm+over+Sh750m+Treasury+deal/-/1064/1148450/-/1d6kvi/-/index.html


MPs raise alarm over Sh750m Treasury deal

By NJERI RUGENE, [e-mail] AND BERNARD NAMUNANE [e-mail]
Posted Wednesday, April 20 2011 at 21:17

Two MPs on Wednesday sensationally accused Treasury of giving Sh3.8 billion to three banks to lend out at high interest rates, yet the money was meant for soft loans to small traders.

The claims by Industrialisation assistant minister Ndiritu Muriithi and Kinangop MP David Ngugi were immediately dismissed by Finance ministry, which said that each bank had been given Sh250 million, bringing the total to Sh750 million.

Another Treasury official said banks are supposed to make available in loans five times the amount, meaning they would have been able to lend a total of Sh3.8 billion.

Mr Muriithi and Mr Ngugi claimed that Sh3.8 billion from public coffers intended for lending to small traders at minimal interest was being lent to everyone at high interest.

They said they had gone public after unsuccessfully raising it with officials. “We have raised the issue with the Permanent Secretary (Finance), the Finance Minister, and even higher, but people whom we have repeatedly sat with have chosen to stick to such a discredited route when they should be providing long-term credit to Kenyans in production enterprises,” Mr Ngugi said.

Mr Muriithi said: “With every avenue of persuasion having been shut by some people in government, who appear to want this strange scheme to continue, we have decided to bring it to the court of public opinion.” They claimed that Cooperative Bank, Equity Bank and K-Rep bank were given the money at six per cent by Treasury and were now lending it out at between 16 and 18 per cent.

“We are of the view that something is terribly wrong. We do not see the rationale to take taxpayers money and lend to commercial banks at 6 per cent, Mr Muriithi said.

But Treasury said that Sh750 million was given to the banks after successful bidding, and was meant to raise the kitty, which is supposed to serve as a revolving fund, to Sh3.8 billion.

Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s spokesman, Mr Munyori Buku, while dismissing the allegations, said that each bank received Sh250 million under an agreement that they would give five shillings for each they received.

“It was done openly with a view that the kitty will rise to Sh3.8 billion,” he said.

During the press conference at Parliament Buildings, Mr Muriithi said: “The three banks are working with a cartel in government in a scheme that defeats every known economic logic.

This scheme is repugnant, shameful and immoral and what we have here is just a tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Cooperative Bank’s chief manager in charge of marketing and public relations, Mr Ngumo Kahiga, said the bank was awaiting Sh250 million from Treasury, which it will disburse to the target group.

“I can confirm that Co-operative Bank is waiting to receive and disburse money that will be lent to us from the Treasury. The amount is Sh250 million. The terms of the agreement are that for every shilling that Treasury has provided, Co-operative Bank lends five shillings of its own funds.

“The contract clearly states that the entire credit risk lies with the bank and the entire amount lent to the bank by Treasury will be refunded in total. The money is not a women’s fund. It is targeted at Micro and Small Enterprises.”

He said the Treasury and banks involved signed the deal at a public function on March 14.

At K-Rep Bank, the Nation was told that the public relations manager was in a long meeting.

Calls to Equity were not picked by its staff. The two banks could therefore not confirm that they are participating in the loan deal or received any money from Treasury.

[reporter911]

THIEVES !!THIEVES!! CARTELS!!IN GOVERNMENT MUST BE STOPPED!! TREASURY IS STEALING OPENLY FORM THE KENYA TAX PAYERS...
UHURU HAS A CASE TO ANSWER BOTH AT THE ICC AND STEALING FROM KENYANS WITH HIS CARTELS IN GOVERNMENT.. 'SOME MINISTERS & MP'S PRIVY TO THE ON GOING DEALS!! BURE KABISA!!



Kenyans must wake up immediately before the government coffers are run dry by these cartels!

[politicalmaniac]

Ever since jomo jnr assumed the Finance portfolio its been one scandal after another, or sheer obstructionism - like the refusal to give funds for settlements of land.

Now after his family has stolen land for decades, manipulated the business arena so that they and only they are in partnerships with multinationals, he decides to steal money directly and possibly use it as bond money in the Hague.

[commes]

I agree with PLO that corruption should be declared a national disaster

NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 26 - Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission Director Patrick Lumumba said on Tuesday that graft should be declared a national disaster.

Prof Lumumba said if it was declared a national disaster, the war against the vice would incorporate all stakeholders just like the war on HIV/Aids.

"I have been saying for the last two weeks that I wish the President could actually declare corruption a national disaster so that we start to deal with it in a totally different level the way we dealt with HIV/Aids," he said during a visit to the Capital Group Limited offices.

Prof Lumumba urged members of the public to join hands with the commission for the country to succeed in the war against corruption.

He said he was particularly keen to involve the youth in the war against graft because they are the majority in the country and suffer most as a result of corruption.

"We want to change our way of communicating to the public, we want to diversify and use means which can reach the youth like Twitter and Facebook," he said.


more here

[akinyi2005]

PLO sounds more annoying with such defeatist statements. by asking the public to join hands with the commission (not sure what this means) is he indeed admitting to failure on his part?

i find it curious that he now wants to involve the youth (victims) in helping him fight the perpetrators (fat cats). how exactly do you propose to do this bwana Lumumba?

[phil]

Apr 26, 2011 18:22:47 GMT 3 akinyi2005 said:

PLO sounds more annoying with such defeatist statements. by asking the public to join hands with the commission (not sure what this means) is he indeed admitting to failure on his part?

i find it curious that he now wants to involve the youth (victims) in helping him fight the perpetrators (fat cats). how exactly do you propose to do this bwana Lumumba?

I lost hope in PLO eons ago.

Let's just make PLO a multi-billionaire then resign to the reality that when his term expires someone else will come to be made rich as Director of the toothless bulldog that is KACC.

[commes]

Apr 27, 2011 9:34:26 GMT 3 phil said:

Apr 26, 2011 18:22:47 GMT 3 akinyi2005 said:

PLO sounds more annoying with such defeatist statements. by asking the public to join hands with the commission (not sure what this means) is he indeed admitting to failure on his part?

i find it curious that he now wants to involve the youth (victims) in helping him fight the perpetrators (fat cats). how exactly do you propose to do this bwana Lumumba?

I lost hope in PLO eons ago.

Let's just make PLO a multi-billionaire then resign to the reality that when his term expires someone else will come to be made rich as Director of the toothless bulldog that is KACC.

PLO should have done a better job in monitoring and keeping track of the on goings at Treasury/CBK etc via a structured mechanism. He should have been providing us with a quartely reports of sorts.


The last Kenyan budget was just shy of a trillion Kenyan shillings. The largest budget ever in our history.

This is a lot of money. It is not a small amount! Probably with the recent supplementary budget, we could have surpassed that amount.

One trillion in figures is something like this.

According to the American number system, one trillion is equal to one million million, or 1,000,000,000,000.

According to the Commonwealth number system, one trillion is equal to one million million million, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.

^{(I do not know which is which, I just checked this up in figures off the internet but is it still a lot of money relative to our economy).}

Where does all this money go?


Personally I believe that there is a lot of waste in government and obscene corruption in government operations and dealings. The more reason for increased transparency and accountability!


Like you rightly say, PLO and his gang appear to have lost the battle.

Bure kabisa

[job]

Something terribly awful is happening between KRA and Treasury - two tribal dens - and Kenya needs to get to its bottom as soon as possible.

As Muite says - this is not corruption, it's blatant THEFT!

www.youtube.com/user/NTVKenya#p/u/4/SlTKTrKPBi0

[politicalmaniac]

May 12, 2011 17:49:13 GMT 3 job said:

Something terribly awful is happening between KRA and Treasury - two tribal dens - and Kenya needs to get to its bottom as soon as possible.

As Muite says - this is not corruption, it's blatant THEFT!

www.youtube.com/user/NTVKenya#p/u/4/SlTKTrKPBi0

Truly sad man, are Kenyans not moved by brazen theft by the mafiya wa mt kenya?

Our Attention is constantly diverted by silly fights (see the Hon Miguna article in the Star) while the 4th estate just sleeps.

[KOLONEL BRISK]

www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Clash+looms+over+reading+of+Budget++/-/1006/1168870/-/10oxlaj/-/index.html

Impunity shows its face, The Finance Secretary once again breaks the Law. Imaginary powers, manipulation of figures, Entitlement ..... name it.

By JUSTUS ONDARI [e-mail]

Posted Tuesday, May 24 2011 at 22:30
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over this year’s budget after a powerful parliamentary committee accused Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta of “misleading the public” by announcing that he will read the Budget speech to the House on June 8.

The Parliamentary Budget Committee, which comprises 15 members and chairmen of all parliamentary committees, said the minister had no such powers under the new Constitution.

“Whatever we are reading in the media that the Minister for Finance will be reading the budget can only be considered as a big assumption,” said Mr Elias Mbau, who is also the Maragua MP.

“Such a presentation as was in the old constitution is misleading to the public.”

Mr Mbau said the committee would discuss the matter on May 31 and decide the way forward.

“The Budget Speech for the Fiscal-Year 2011/12 will be delivered in the National Assembly on Wednesday, the June 8, 2011 at 3pm,” Mr Kenyatta said in a brief notice appearing in the daily newspapers on Tuesday.

The MP said under the current Constitution, the minister was only expected to submit estimates of revenue and expenditure to Parliament, which will then be presented to the budget committee for “discussion, dissection and debate.”

The committee then prepares a report, complete with recommendations, which is tabled before Parliament for discussion before being endorsed or rejected.

This comes a few days after analysts accused the minister of breaking the law by failing to present the budget to Parliament by April 30, 2011, two months before the fiscal year comes to an end on June 30, as required by the law.

Article 221 (1) of the Constitution says: “At least two months before the end of each financial year, the Cabinet Secretary responsible for finance shall submit to the National Assembly estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the national government for the next financial year to be tabled in the National Assembly.”

Mr Mbau accused the minister and Treasury technocrats of reneging on an earlier agreement with the committee on May 2.

“We agreed to close one eye but on condition that the Minister covers us, as a committee, by issuing a ministerial statement in Parliament explaining the little delay and give a commitment that the same will be done by the end of May,” said Mr Mbau.

Mr Kenyatta has not issued the statement and instead announced the day of budget reading.

“To give them the benefit of doubt, we still expect to have a preview of the revenue and expenditure and make the requisite contribution to what will eventually become the final document of the budget,” he told the Nation.

Last week, a source who could not be quoted for fear of risking his organisation’s relationship with the Treasury, said Mr Kenyatta had “broken the law and set a bad precedent” by not observing the Constitution.

“There are no provisions for a transitional period in connection to Chapter 12, which means it became operational immediately and, therefore, the minister has broken the law,” said the source.

The source noted that this was the reason Treasury permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua was sworn in as a commissioner to the Commission on Revenue Allocation, despite not being the principal secretary in the ministry for Finance.

“The question we need to ask ourselves is; are we starting on the wrong footing in the implementation of the constitution on public finance?” Mr John Mutua of the Institute of Economic Affairs asked during the launch of budget literacy manuals at a Nairobi hotel.

Mr Mutua said the constitutional deadline was meant to give MPs ample time to scrutinise the budget estimates and seal any loopholes that may be used to steal public resources.

The Judiciary is also in breach of the Constitution since clause (2) requires that the National Assembly considers the estimates submitted under clause (1) together with the estimates submitted by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) and the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary.
While PSC presented its budget proposals to Parliament before the April 30 deadline and are currently before the relevant committees of the House, the Judiciary took its proposals to Treasury.

Under article 173, the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary is expected to not only administer the Judiciary Fund, but also prepare estimates of expenditure for the following year, and submit them to the National Assembly for approval.

[KOLONEL BRISK]

www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Clash+looms+over+reading+of+Budget++/-/1006/1168870/-/10oxlaj/-/index.html

Impunity shows its face, The Finance Secretary once again breaks the Law. Imaginary powers, manipulation of figures, Entitlement ..... name it.

By JUSTUS ONDARI [e-mail]

Posted Tuesday, May 24 2011 at 22:30
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over this year’s budget after a powerful parliamentary committee accused Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta of “misleading the public” by announcing that he will read the Budget speech to the House on June 8.

The Parliamentary Budget Committee, which comprises 15 members and chairmen of all parliamentary committees, said the minister had no such powers under the new Constitution.

“Whatever we are reading in the media that the Minister for Finance will be reading the budget can only be considered as a big assumption,” said Mr Elias Mbau, who is also the Maragua MP.

“Such a presentation as was in the old constitution is misleading to the public.”

Mr Mbau said the committee would discuss the matter on May 31 and decide the way forward.

“The Budget Speech for the Fiscal-Year 2011/12 will be delivered in the National Assembly on Wednesday, the June 8, 2011 at 3pm,” Mr Kenyatta said in a brief notice appearing in the daily newspapers on Tuesday.

The MP said under the current Constitution, the minister was only expected to submit estimates of revenue and expenditure to Parliament, which will then be presented to the budget committee for “discussion, dissection and debate.”

The committee then prepares a report, complete with recommendations, which is tabled before Parliament for discussion before being endorsed or rejected.

This comes a few days after analysts accused the minister of breaking the law by failing to present the budget to Parliament by April 30, 2011, two months before the fiscal year comes to an end on June 30, as required by the law.

Article 221 (1) of the Constitution says: “At least two months before the end of each financial year, the Cabinet Secretary responsible for finance shall submit to the National Assembly estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the national government for the next financial year to be tabled in the National Assembly.”

Mr Mbau accused the minister and Treasury technocrats of reneging on an earlier agreement with the committee on May 2.

“We agreed to close one eye but on condition that the Minister covers us, as a committee, by issuing a ministerial statement in Parliament explaining the little delay and give a commitment that the same will be done by the end of May,” said Mr Mbau.

Mr Kenyatta has not issued the statement and instead announced the day of budget reading.

“To give them the benefit of doubt, we still expect to have a preview of the revenue and expenditure and make the requisite contribution to what will eventually become the final document of the budget,” he told the Nation.

Last week, a source who could not be quoted for fear of risking his organisation’s relationship with the Treasury, said Mr Kenyatta had “broken the law and set a bad precedent” by not observing the Constitution.

“There are no provisions for a transitional period in connection to Chapter 12, which means it became operational immediately and, therefore, the minister has broken the law,” said the source.

The source noted that this was the reason Treasury permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua was sworn in as a commissioner to the Commission on Revenue Allocation, despite not being the principal secretary in the ministry for Finance.

“The question we need to ask ourselves is; are we starting on the wrong footing in the implementation of the constitution on public finance?” Mr John Mutua of the Institute of Economic Affairs asked during the launch of budget literacy manuals at a Nairobi hotel.

Mr Mutua said the constitutional deadline was meant to give MPs ample time to scrutinise the budget estimates and seal any loopholes that may be used to steal public resources.

The Judiciary is also in breach of the Constitution since clause (2) requires that the National Assembly considers the estimates submitted under clause (1) together with the estimates submitted by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) and the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary.
While PSC presented its budget proposals to Parliament before the April 30 deadline and are currently before the relevant committees of the House, the Judiciary took its proposals to Treasury.

Under article 173, the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary is expected to not only administer the Judiciary Fund, but also prepare estimates of expenditure for the following year, and submit them to the National Assembly for approval.

[merlin]

No-Confidence

Isn’t time for a censure motion to express no-confidence in the Minister of finance?