The Liaison Committee examines more reports from the Departmental Committee Chairpersons on the 2025 Budget Policy Statements

The Liaison Committee examines more reports from the Departmental Committee Chairpersons on the 2025 Budget Policy Statements

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓. 𝐊𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐮 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲.

The Liaison Committee, chaired by Deputy Speaker Hon. Gladys Boss (Uasin Gishu), continued examining the Departmental Committees’ 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) and the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) reports for the respective MDAs under their purview.

During the presentations, the Chairperson of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, Hon. George Murugara (Tharaka), apprised Members that his committee has considered a request by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for Kshs. 6.7 billion was meant for replacing the KIEMS Kit and has instructed the Commission to submit an expert report in three months on the usability and salvage value of the existing 45,000 KIEMS kits.

Hon. Murugara further proposed additional funding to key critical areas including Kshs. 0.5 billion to cater for the completion of the ongoing court constructions, and Kshs. 0.5 billion to enable employment on permanent and pensionable terms, staff contracted under the Ajira Programme.

The Chairperson for Administration and Internal Security Committee Hon. Gabriel Tongoyo (Narok West), presented the Committee’s approved ceilings to various MDAs under its purview, further recommending that the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration develops policy guidelines within 6 months of the adoption of the BPS 2025, on how Citizens will access government services during the period upon which their third generation Identity Card will expire after 10 years.

The Blue Economy, Water and Irrigation Committee Chairperson Hon. Kangogo Bowen (Marakwet East), recommended that for the Committee to be able to effectively support the government policy of increasing the population’s access to improved water services from 73 per cent to 80 per cent and sanitation services from 33 per cent to 40 per cent by 2027, the State Department for Water and Sanitation should implement a policy for inclusive water development. 

“This policy will entail allocating each of the 290 Constituencies Kshs. 50 million annually for the next 3 financial years, to undertake water and sanitation development projects. The project will cost the government Kshs. 14.5 billion annually,” said Hon. Bowen.

Hon. Bowen further proposed that the merger under the State Department for Water and Sanitation, State Department for Irrigation and State Department for Blue Economy and Fisheries be fast-tracked and completed before 30th April 2025 so that the restructuring can be accommodated when preparing the FY 2025/26 budget estimates. 

The Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee Chairperson, Hon. Nelson Koech (Belgut) proposed that the ceilings for all the programmes be approved, further requesting an enhancement of the ceilings for the five MDAs under its purview.

Hon. Koech also recommended that within twelve months upon approval of the 2025 BPS, the CS in charge of the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, in conjunction with the CS in charge of the National Treasury, develop a plan of restructuring Kenya’s foreign service. 

“The plan should involve consolidating or closing economically unsustainable and underperforming missions and reallocating resources to prioritize funding for key missions. The objective of this initiative is to ensure that Kenya has missions that are well-funded and staff that are more effective than multiple under-resourced ones,” submitted Hon. Koech.

The Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, Chaired by Hon. John Mutunga (Tigania West), requested an additional Kshs. 4.58 billion for the State Department of Agriculture, under the Sugar Reforms Programme, to fund unsettled worker’s salary arrears owed by four sugar mills, namely Chemelil, Nzoia, South Nyanza and Muhoroni.

Further, Hon. Mutunga requested for an additional Kshs. 9.748 billion to fund various critical projects, including the fertilizer subsidy programme, coconut and cashew nut revitalization programmes, completion of aggregations centres, increased production of value chain crop seeds and seedlings to solve the problem of seed shortage in the country, and MSMEs’ agricultural credit support.

The Committee on Lands Chairperson Hon. Joash Nyamoko (North Mugirango) requested an enhancement of the ceilings to the State Department for Lands by Kshs. 6 billion for the settlement of the landless and Kshs. 548 million on the development expenditure for ICT Infrastructure, public land inventory maintenance and survey in the vesting process for the compulsorily acquired land.

On his part, the Chairperson for Environment, Forestry and Mining Committee Hon. James Gikaria (Nakuru Town East) suggested the incorporation of the private sector in supporting the National Tree Growing and Restoration Campaign through projects like the adoption of forests, with the State Department for Forestry expected to fastrack the preparation and approval of regulations by July 2025. 

The Committee shall review all the proposals and draft a report that shall be tabled in the House for consideration.

During the session, the Committee hosted a team from the Parliamentary Budget Office in Zimbabwe, who are on a study tour in Kenya on budget-related matters.