Friday, 28 February, 2025
Trade Committee concludes review of 2025 Budget Policy Statement๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐๐๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฒ, ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐
The National Assembly's Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, chaired by Hon. James Gakuya (Embakasi North), has concluded deliberations on the 2025 Budget Policy Statement for ministries under its oversight.
Today, the committee quizzed Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development, Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya, regarding the ministryโs spending plan.
CS Oparanya was accompanied by Principal Secretaries Patrick Kiburi (Cooperatives) and Susan Mang'eni (MSMEs Development), along with senior officials from various state agencies.
At the session, the CS emphasized the need for additional funding to enable state agencies to effectively fulfill their mandates and complete ongoing projects.
He noted that several key priority areas in the Budget Policy Statement remained unfunded and urged the committee to support the State Department during the 2025/2026 budget allocation.
Among the critical unfunded areas in the State Department for Cooperatives, CS Oparanya highlighted a funding gap of Ksh. 200 million for mobilization across eight value chains, Ksh. 138 million for promoting good governance and accountability in cooperatives, and Ksh. 4.1 billion for refurbishing primary coffee handling infrastructure, including the production and multiplication of coffee planting materials.
In the State Department for MSMEs Development, the Financial Inclusion Fund (Hustler Fund) requires an additional Ksh. 8 billion for credit disbursement and Ksh. 400 million for recurrent expenditure.
Additionally, the Uwezo Fund needs Ksh. 168.6 million for Constituency Uwezo Fund Management Committees and Ksh. 450 million for re-engineering the fund.
On Thursday, last week, the Hon Gakuya-led committee held a consultative engagement with Lee Kinyanjui, the CS for Investments, Trade, and Industry over the ministry's spending plan.
At the meeting, committee members called for an investigation into the high cost of cement and steel, despite the existence of a policy meant to encourage local manufacturing of the items.
The lawmakers expressed concern over the price surge, noting that the Export and Investment Promotion Levy was introduced to boost domestic manufacturing of the building and construction products.
The Finance Act 2023 introduced a 17.5 percent export and promotion levy on imported cement clinker, steel and paper products in what the government reckoned would help spur the countryโs manufacturing sector.
โPrices of cement and steel have been on the rise since the introduction of the levy. The real estate sector has been negatively affected. Something needs to be done urgently,โ said Hon. Gakuya.
CS Kinyanjui was accompanied by Industry Principal Secretary Dr. Juma Mukhwana and representatives from the State Departments for Investment Promotion and Trade.
Committee Vice Chairperson Hon. Marianne Kitany (Aldai) emphasized the need for the probe to examine the number of new industries established since the levyโs introduction and how many have shut down.
โThis committee and Kenyans in general also need to know how much export levy has been collected and how the same has been spent,โ said Hon. Kitany.
Responding to the MPsโ concerns, CS Kinyanjui defended the levyโs imposition, describing it as a good policy. However, he acknowledged that the rising cost of cement and steel products contradicts the intended impact of the levy.
โThe steady rise in prices of locally manufactured cement and steel products, despite global prices going down, has defied the intention of the policy. The logical expectation was for prices to decrease,โ said CS Kinyanjui.
โAs a Ministry, we have formed a team to look into the issue and determine whether manufacturers have colluded to fix prices. If we find evidence of artificial price hikes, we will take the necessary action,โ he assured the MPs.