Various stakeholders from Meru County on Wednesday, took part in the ongoing countrywide public participation in the budgetary process for the 2024/2025 financial year.
Speaking during the exercise that took place at Meru Teachers College, the national treasury representative Mr. Adan Harakhe said the exercise was taking place as a fulfillment of the constitution of Kenya directive in article 210 (a), which provides for openness, accountability, and public participation in financial matters.
Therefore, he added, in every budget circle, members of the public are supposed to be involved.
Harakhe further said that it was against this backdrop that the national treasury has set up teams from all the economic sectors to go around all 47 counties to get the input of the members of the public.
“Budget is normally approved by parliament which is representative of the people, and therefore whatever budget we have, we should ensure the input of the members of the public is there. We are not the ones to decide on what should be done,” he said.
He added: “A similar exercise happened in the 2011/2012 financial year but in the subsequent years it has never happened. Since now it is a bottom-up approach, we must involve Wanjiku in the decision-making.”
He said every administration has a strategic plan for five years, and within that period, in terms of priorities, is how the resources will be allocated. These priorities come from the people.
If the people say we need this project instead of the other one, you have to start with the one they put more weight on, added Halakhe.
Meru County Commissioner Mr. Fredrick Ndunga said they had invited people from all sectors to give their opinion on the budgetary process that has been ongoing since October 30 and will be ending on November 6.
He called on the members of the public to make good use of public participation opportunities whenever they present themselves so that they can also take part in the running of the country.
“We appeal to all that whenever we call representatives of various sectors, let them come in large numbers and participate since this is their constitutional right which should not be ignored,” said Mr Ndunga.
Mohamed Salim, a participant, said he was happy to be invited to give his views on various sectors that contribute to the economic growth of the country.
He said the most important thing is giving the common Mwananchi a chance to add his voice to the issue of planning for the country.
“When you go to a public participation and you have a large number of people, then you know that many people have been covered and that has been witnessed here and we are happy that all the actors are here,” said Salim.
He said the exercise was a true picture of the government’s bottom-up agenda.
“I want to thank President William Ruto and tell him that this idea is good but it needs a serious engagement and a good budgetary allocation for each section because budgeting finances is important,” said Salim.
Mary Kirima, a representative of the National Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) said she was also happy that they were invited in large numbers.
