Environment, Forestry And Mining Committee Meets MDAS Under Its Purview To Discuss Supplementary Budget Estimates For TY2023/24
Mining PS Elijah Mwangi
PSCU
National Assembly Committee on Environment, Forestry and Mining has held a consultation meeting with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under its purview to discuss the Supplementary Budget Estimates No.1 for the FY 2023/2024.
Hon. Roselinda Soipan Tuya, the Cabinet Secretary of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, alongside her two Principal Secretaries, Eng. Festus Ngeno and Mr. Gitonga Mugambi, were the first to appear before the Committee chaired by Hon. David Gikaria (Nakuru East).
The Committee wanted to know how the ministry had utilized the allocated recurrent and development budget during the period under review.
“To enable the Committee to effectively consider the Supplementary Estimates 1, you are requested to provide the first quarter actual recurrent expenditure highlighting key items of expenditure such as wages, use of goods and services and transfers and first quarter development expenditure, status of capital projects including the status of the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) projects,” Hon. Gikaria told the MDAs.
According to the CS, the State Department for Environment and Climate Change had a gross approved budget of Shs 6,237 million which comprised Shs 4,196million as recurrent expenditure and Shs 2,041 million as development expenditure.
“By 30th September 2023, out of the total recurrent budget Shs 651, 278, 607 has been utilized and that translates to an absorption rate of 63%. Similarly for development budget Shs 214, 218, 687 has been committed in the IFMIS system awaiting provision of exchequer from National Treasury and this represents an absorption rate of 21%,” CS Tuya told the Committee.
Eng. Ngeno asked the Committee to consider further increase in funding for the FY 2023/24, which he said will be utilized in modernizing meteorological services to ensure effective seasonal weather predictions and to ensure sustainable waste management through circular economy and job creation.
While requesting the Committee to reconsider the proposed budget for the State Department of Forestry which he said is low-level, Mr. Mugambi said that the low funding will adversely affect the effort of realizing the core mandate of 30% tree cover by 2032.
The PS for mining state department, Mr. Elijah Mwangi, also asked for more funding from the Committee, telling the members that they were underfunded, and they lacked enough staff members.
Mr. Mwangi disclosed that currently, they have 48 mines inspectors that are spread across 19 counties only which he says is contrary to the Mining Act that requires them to have mines inspectors across all the 47 counties.
After the submissions from the different MDAs the Committee will now write a report which will be presented before the Budget and Appropriations Committee for consideration.
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