Parliament to spend sh4b on maintenance of old vehicles

Parliament has allocated sh4.923b for maintenance of vehicles in poor mechanical condition, during the next financial year 2018/19.

According to a report by Parliament's committee on legal and parliamentary affairs, on the ministerial policy statement of the parliamentary commission, for the financial year 2018/19, about five pickup vehicles are not being utilised after they broke down and are due for boarding off.

The breakdown of the five vehicles has thus left the commission with a small fleet of vehicles, leading to over use of the few mechanically sound vehicles.

It is in this regard, that the parliamentary commission has increased its budget for vehicle maintenance, from sh3.581b allocated during the current financial year 2017/18, to sh4.923 b, which has been approved as the budget for vehicle maintenance in the financial year 2018/19.

"Other vehicles are in poor mechanical condition, increasing the maintenance costs on the budget," the committee noted in its report adopted by the House last week.

New vehicles

The commission has however allocated sh3b for the purchase of 14 new vehicles to replace the old vehicles.

Unlike the current financial year where the commission allocated sh2.25b for the same activity, there has been an increase in the budget for the procurement of new vehicles, which has been revised to sh3b.

"The committee recommends that Parliament should gradually board off vehicles whose maintenance cost is increasing due to poor mechanical conditions, and purchase new vehicles to reduce on the maintenance budget," the MPs recommended in their report. 

The projected budget for the parliamentary commission, for the financial year 2018/19, is sh459.60b of which sh86.93b is for wages, sh305.67b for non-wage, and sh67b for development budget.

Overall, the commission has registered a reduction in its budget by sh24.15b. This is due to a sh66.22b reduction on the non-wage recurrent budget from sh371.89b in the financial year 2017/18, to sh305.67b in financial year 2018/19.

The commission had a total approved budget of sh483.76b for the current financial year 2017/18, of which sh318.45b was released.