Daily Nation ­ Wednesday
Date: 02.03.2016
Page 8
Article size: 195 cm2
ColumnCM: 43.33
AVE: 93599.99
ROBERT NGUGI I NATION
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich (right) and Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge before the
Liaison Committee of the National Assembly at County Hall in Nairobi yesterday.
Rotich throws ball in KRA court
BY JOHN NGIRACHU
The Kenya Revenue Authority
will be under pressure to raise
Shl.3 trillion while the govern­
ment will limit spending to meet
its targets in the Budget for the
coming financial year, Treasury
Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich
has told MPs.
Mr Rotich told the National
Assembly's Liaison Committee
that Treasury is "very cautious"
because targets have not been
met in the past two years.
"On the Shl.3 trillion, that is
the much we can do. The only
way we can go above that is to
raise taxes and that is not some­
thing we want to do. The KRA
must work hard to ensure that
is achieved," Mr Rotich told the
committee chaired by Deputy
Speaker Joyce Laboso.
He said the ministry would
focus on four key areas
— mandatory expenses such as
payment of debts and salaries,
ongoing projects, areas where
it needs to contribute money to
unlock donor­funded projects
and what it considers strategic
policy interventions.
About 95 per cent of the
Budget would be funded from
revenue collection, said the Cabi­
net Secretary, and the little left
over would be used for devel­
opment, with the government
being careful to keep borrowing
to a minimum.
Currently, 29 per cent of the
revenue collected goes to servic­
ing Kenya's debts.
"We have to put more pressure
on KRA. They have to expand
the base and ensure there are no
leakages. The more we collect,
the more we can finance pressing
needs," said Mr Rotich.
But the MPs described his
Budget Policy Statement as
unrealistic, with most saying
the government has about
1,000 ongoing projects that
would need Sh3 trillion over
the next eight­and­a­half years
to complete.
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