- Mbadi urged a halt to new road construction projects, emphasising the need to complete ongoing projects to maximise the value of the funds invested.
- The committee recommended that the National Treasury only approves projects with guaranteed funding.
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A report by a Parliamentary watchdog committee has cited delayed exchequer releases, budget cuts, and inadequate project management as factors plaguing infrastructural projects in the country.
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) reports these factors have led to the stagnation of projects and accumulation of pending bills.
According to the report, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) faced budgetary underperformance during the Financial Year 2020/2021.
“This invariance led to under-performance of programme objectives and lack of service provision to the public,” committee chair John Mbadi said.
“On budget cuts, this House stands indicted because we allow too many supplementary budgets, which distort and disrupt the budget implementation process hence resulting in audit queries,” he added.
The report noted that as of December 31, 2023, the State Department for Roads had pending bills totaling Sh162 billion, despite certified works amounting to Sh650 billion.
Mbadi expressed concern with the ballooning pending bill owed to contractors and suppliers by the State Department for Roads saying it will take up to a minimum of four years to settle the debt as the annual allocation for the entity is roughly Sh40 billion.
Mbadi urged a halt to new road construction projects, emphasising the need to complete ongoing projects to maximise the value of the funds invested.
“We should stop any new constructions of roads to complete ongoing ones so that there would be value for the money pumped into those roads. It is about time the House bites the bullet, I have said it before and I say it again: Let us take radical steps,” he held.
The committee recommended that the National Treasury only approve projects with guaranteed funding.
Mbadi emphasised that no new projects should commence until existing ones are completed or fully funded.
The committee also urged the National Treasury and the National Assembly to make realistic revenue projections.
Mbadi stressed the need to avoid over-budgeting, emphasising that revenue projections should align with actual possibilities.
“The reality is that we are over-budgeting as a country. We are budgeting for money that is on paper and that cannot be realised. We need to be realistic about our projections. Our Parliamentary Budget Office has always warned us every financial year that the revenue projections from the National Treasury are unrealistic. However, we continue and go ahead to approve them,” he said.