In last week’s article, we began to highlight the significant issues that were covered in our Accountability Watch column in 2024. These relate mainly to budgetary matters, public procurement, natural resource management, and other related matters. So far, we have dealt with budgetary matters and public procurement.
In view of the unsatisfactory performance in the execution of the budget in the first half of the year, especially in respect of infrastructure development works where only 25.4 percent achievement was recorded, we cautioned against any undue haste to incur expenditure in the last quarter of the year in order to exhaust budgetary allocations.
The Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act specifically requires all unspent balances at the end of the year to be surrendered to the Treasury, and any unfulfilled programme or activity must be re-budgeted for in the next fiscal year, assuming its continuing relevance. The Act also prohibits contracts from being entered into unless there are available funds in the budget to meet the related costs.
