Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 639299,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/639299/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 169,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bunyasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "national Government, we will give reluctantly. But the pressure should be that wherever the shilling lands, it goes to the most productive. Hopefully, it will not land on the rock in a political sense, but will land on fertile soil and it will give us a major product. Table Two shows the breakdown of the resources. Before I get there, it is a pity that this has come just a few days before we present the 2014/2015 audited accounts. We are at a stage in which we are going to be doing report writing largely. It will just be a few weeks later than would have been the case and possibly, they would have used these resources. Hopefully, next year we shall catch up. Looking at the break down on Table Two, my attention is drawn primarily at the issue of public debt. In 2015/2016, it was estimated that the public debt payment will be about Kshs362 billion rising to about Kshs433 billion. This is an area we must keep a tight eye on as we go forward and particularly as the Government comes out with the borrowing strategy for the coming year. Institutions of Government at the national level have been left without much change which is probably the right thing because inflation will help to take care of it. Part of the revenue that is wasted in this Republic is under undefended litigation. I would like to urge the institutions concerned like the Judiciary, the Director of Public Prosecutions as well as the Attorney-General, in deciding how quickly to settle this debt, to be vigilant. In many of these provisions, there are additional payments that would have not occurred if cases had been settled on time. If judgement has gone against you and you know you have to pay, do not wait for two years and accumulate interest because that interest is being paid for by the taxpayer. In terms of the quality of services that are being delivered, there has been a wide variance across this Republic. I remember back in 2005/2006, I had discussions with my local agriculture department on a rice project we were trying to promote through self help efforts, through community development efforts. There was zero extension. To get the extension out, you had to pay for it. This is in 2006 before devolution. Let us not exaggerate services that maybe only existed in some parts of the country and not in others. This is the same, for example, in health services. People talked about how counties will afford to keep vaccines. If they do so, they do not have fridges. We never had fridges when we had the national Government responsible for this. Now we have it and we would like it to operate better. The devolved government has brought services that others did not see before. If you look at most counties around the country, there is vibrancy in the local economies because part of these billions are spent locally, whether through justifiable means or otherwise and are spurring local economies. There are some advantages to it. We are not talking about the opportunities provided by public sector employment. These are opportunities that these expenditures spur local economic growth leading to a bubble in many places. I would hope that this effort continues to catch up to schools. We have a huge challenge. The only investment that goes to school comes from the CDF. The national Government, at least, in the county where I come from, has completely abandoned this function. We need to expand and modernise infrastructural development in areas where population is still growing through a transfer of such resources. I know there are other parts of the country where population is contracting and they do not have that problem, but I hope we begin to look gallantly at this issue of sharing of revenues and think of it as an opportunity for this same Republic. For the President of this country, it is better for him that resources that go to the national Government and the county governments spur growth. It is his country. It is his Republic and economy. It is just a division of which level would best provide services. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}