Uriri Member of Parliament (MP) Mark Nyamita holds that Kenya cannot afford to adopt a Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) technique due to the heaping debt burden incurred in the past decade.
According to MP Nyamita, using ZBB in Kenya is a tall order since the debt ceiling has remained steep since former President Uhuru Kenyatta took power in 2013, and has remained on a high after President William Ruto succeeded him.
“To be very honest to Kenyans it is almost an impossibility for now, it is our wish. But the journey to zero-based budgeting must begin at some point,” he told Citizen TV on Tuesday.
“The debts we have incurred over the last 10 years, because when the late President Mwai Kibaki left we were almost towards a zero-based budgeting, it would have been possible.”
ZBB is a budgeting method where all expenses must be justified for each financial year, starting from a “zero base”, rather than building on the previous year’s budget.
The legislator added that the Kenyan government, however, considering to adopt the method, will have to pay off the debts before considering starting on a clean slate at the expense of taxpayers.
“Because the government exists in perpetuity, we have to honour the commitments they made and taxpayers have to bear the cost,” he said.
He opined that the State’s plan to achieve development with the allocated Ksh.700 billion will not be feasible and the Minsitry of Treasury should consider reallocating the monies to critical infrastructures.
“If you ask me we should put it more in infrastructure that is going to help in growing the economy,” he added.
This comes amid public scrutiny on the potential misuse of national revenue as tax increments remain active.
