Tuju Urges MPs to Curb Treasury Power Over EADB Transfers
Key points:
- Tuju told MPs the proposed framework lets Treasury alone determine EADB transfer amounts.
- He argued the design weakens parliamentary oversight of public funds.
- EADB is a regional development finance institution; Kenya’s contributions are public money.
The oversight argument
Former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju has asked Members of Parliament to strip the National Treasury of sole power to determine how much Kenya sends to the East African Development Bank (EADB), warning that a proposed law weakens oversight of public funds, Nation.Africa reported.
Development-bank subscriptions and capital calls are easy to bury in technical schedules. Tuju’s intervention frames them as classic appropriation questions: who decides quantum, who audits performance, and what Parliament sees before cash moves.
Why the numbers matter
Treasury typically prefers executive flexibility for regional commitments made under treaty or cabinet authority. MPs, especially on finance and public accounts committees, prefer ex-ante ceilings and reporting. The EADB debate is one instance of that structural tension.
Kenya’s fiscal space is tight. Any automatic or opaque external transfer competes with domestic priorities—salaries, SHA arrears, county sharables. That is why oversight language resonates even among MPs who support regional integration in principle.
How the House amends the bill will show whether Parliament is asserting the power of the purse—or rubber-stamping Treasury drafting once more.
Sources: Nation.Africa business/politics reporting on Tuju’s EADB testimony.
