Budget –President William Ruto has assented to the Appropriations Bill 2024 days after his Finance Bill was rejected by masses across the country.
In his statement shared with the public, President Ruto noted that, after declining to sign the controversial Finance Bill 2024 and sending its memorandum to the Parliament, he found it prudent to sign the Appropriations Bill today so that to beat the June 30 deadline that requires this to be done within the month of June.
Ruto said the signing of the Appropriations Bill guarantees the continuity of activities in all arms of government especially on service delivery.
“I have, therefore, assented to the Appropriations Bill 2024 and instructed the National Treasury to, immediately, prepare supplementary estimates to reduce expenditure by the amount of revenue that was expected to be generated from the rejected Finance Bill,” Ruto stated.
The reduction in expenditure of sh 346 billion will, according to Ruto, be borne by both governments of National and County.
He also added that this reduction willo be borne by all arms of government – the executive, legislature and judiciary.
Dr. Ruto also referred back the County Allocation and Revenue Bill back to the Parliament since it was based on the rejected Bill.
The Treasury, in that line, is now required to submit to the Parliament, Amendments to the Division of Revenue Act 2024 to reflect the reduced revenues.
And until the supplementary Budget is officially approved by the Parliament, the National Treasury is required to direct all the accounting officers to ensure that only critical and essential services are funded using no more than 15 percent of the budget.
