IEA                                                                           13/06/2012

The institute of economic affairs (IEA) in their budget has called on the government to spend within its means. Speaking during the launch of the citizens Alternative Budget 2012-2013, the chief executive officer Kwame Owino says that the proposal by the county government devolution bill to construct houses for the 47 county commissioners and governors is unnecessary saying that the government would rather pay the commissioners sufficient salaries to live in decent houses in their work stations. He says that the move may heavily weigh down on the estimated national budget of shillings 1.462trillion to be read in parliament tomorrow.

Owino pleads o the government to come up with austerity measures by focusing   public spending on areas of priority such upgrading health facilities infrastructure and access to clean water for the benefit of the poor. Responding to a question on how the government is going to meet the deficit of 0.5 trillion from last years estimated national budget, he said that in addition to austerity measures, bilateral, multilateral donors available to the government and grants are some of ways of meeting the deficit.