It was billed as a historic budget because, for the first time in Independent Kenya's history, the National Budget approached the Sh1 trillion mark. It fired cash into sectors that would immediately provide a shot in the arm to the economy, compared to last year's populist approach.
Even as plaudits are still doing the rounds, disturbing questions pop up about the accuracy of the mathematics behind the figures from the Treasury.
This is the second time in two years that a lobby group has cast doubt over some omissions and displacements that would render the Finance Minister's budget null and void.
So, we ask, is there another "typing error" like was evident in the 2009/2010 Budget? Are the omissions adding up to several billion shillings significant enough to make the public pause and demand a comprehensive audit of the Treasury figures?
Once was deemed an honest error, but would these matters, raised by the Mars Group, remain in the same realm?
Is there any truth in the allegation that the reports by the Controller and Auditor General are routinely ignored and that Parliament failed in its oversight role of solving previous Budget queries before approving any subsequent ones?
For crying wolf
Who has answers to these and other questions on matters like unscheduled retirements to deliberately 'dilute' certain departments? Who stands to gain from doctored figures read out on live TV, in broad daylight? If this were a figment of Mars Group's imagination, what is their motive for crying wolf last year? This year? Next year too, perhaps? Or do they know something the rest of us don't?
Source: The Standard | Online Edition
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