The State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services has received the green light to retain a fifth of the money it generates from the issuance of crucial documents such as passports and identity cards in a temporary arrangement aimed at easing perennial cash flow challenges.
The appropriations-in-aid (A-i-A) budget for the department has consequently tripled to Sh3.9 billion for the current financial year ending June from Sh1.3 billion the year before, according to the National Treasury.
Ministerial A-i-A are revenues collected by various government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) when discharging services and are spent at source on approval from the Treasury and appropriation by lawmakers.
The increased allocation follows a recommendation from lawmakers that the department spends 20 percent of the charges from the issuance of passports, Identity Cards, birth and death certificates, work permits and marriage certificates.
This was to ease frequent delays in the issuance of important travel and identification documents such as passports due to lack of materials or breakdown in machines, resulting in applicants missing out on deals.
The Treasury has, however, clarified that the allocation based on a percentage of A-i-A revenue is a one-off arrangement, maintaining that such monies are distributed on a need basis.
“In the FY 2023-24, the National Treasury provided Sh1.3 billion as appropriation-in-aid to the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services to help address cash flow challenges. In the FY2024/25 budget, the State Department has been allowed to utilise A-i-A amounting to Sh3.9 billion in compliance with the resolution of the National Assembly to address challenges on issuance of documents such as passports, identity cards, and birth and death certificates,” the Treasury wrote in the draft 2025 Budget Policy Statement last Wednesday.
“It is important to note that the A-i-A allocation to MDAs is not pegged on percentage collection, but on assessed needs of the MDA.”
Issuance of identification and travel documents is one of the major sources of non-tax revenues for the Treasury.
A move by the Interior ministry to raise the charges for acquiring or replacing documents such as identity cards as well as birth and death certificates was last December rejected by the lawmakers partly on grounds of insufficient public participation in the drafting of the regulations.
The rejected Registration of Persons (Amendment) rules have sought to slap a fee of Sh300 for the application of a new ID, while the charges for registration, re-registration of births and correcting a birth or death entry were to attract Sh1,000.
Based on the allocation, the department generated an estimated Sh19.5 billion last financial year from the issuance of the documents.
The Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly last July raised eyebrows over a growing trend where State agencies underestimate the revenue they are likely to collect when the government budget is being prepared, only to raise the target in the course of the year.
“The committee noted with concern that appropriations-in-aid comprise a substantial component of financing for the national government amounting to approximately Sh400 billion in the proposed budget for FY 2024-25,” the committee, led by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, wrote in the report.
“However, agencies with a mandate to collect the A-i-A have continued to underestimate their A-i-A targets during budget approval only to seek an upward review during supplementary estimates. This continues to reduce accountability and prudence in the use of AIA which is a form of revenue collected from taxpayers.”
