On Friday, 12 February 2021, the Minister responsible for Finance presented to the National Assembly the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the fiscal year 2021. The presentation was made within the 90 days deadline set by Article 219(1) of the Constitution.
Prior to 2015, the Estimates were presented close to this deadline. Taking into account the general debate that followed and the detailed consideration of the Estimates by the Committee of Supply, it was not until the end of April that the Estimates were finally approved. Budget agencies therefore had eight months to execute a 12-month programme, particularly in relation to capital expenditure. This practice to a large extent explained the tendency towards the acceleration of expenditure in the last quarter of the year to exhaust budgetary allocations. In the circumstances all sorts of irregularities took place, including significant breaches of the Procurement Act; overpayments to suppliers and contractors; defective work performed; short or non-supply of goods/services; drawing cheques close to the end of the year for the procurement of goods/services and the execution of works although full value was not received; and failure to pay over to the Consolidated Fund all unspent balances. This does not suggest that these irregularities did not continue through the years 2015 to 2020.