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{
    "id": 1000738,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1000738/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1386,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David ole Sankok",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13166,
        "legal_name": "David Ole Sankok",
        "slug": "david-ole-sankok"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. As you consider them, also consider my time, which has been eaten into by Hon. Makali. As Hon. Otiende Amollo has put it, as we pay pending bills, let us ascertain which bills are payable. It would not take long for county governments, ministries, departments and agencies of the national Government to ascertain which ones are payable and which ones are not. If there are those that cannot be paid then, let them be listed. However, for the ones that can be paid, they should be cleared. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I support this Budget because it has come at a time when we are faced with a very peculiar situation of COVID-19. I want to thank the Budget and Appropriations Committee members for making sure that they have brought into play the issue of COVID-19. However, we also need to itemise the COVID-19 Fund so that the Executive does not get a leeway of using it the way they want. There are vulnerable members who have been affected by COVID-19 more than others. We know there are manual workers. We know of the ones who work in the hotel industry, but more so, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). For a long time, PWDs have depended on donations. The whole world is now locked down and it is very difficult for us to get donors from outside. PWDs have also been benefiting from religious organisations – the churches and mosques - but they are now currently closed. The vulnerable members of our society, the PWDs, are suffering the most. I suggest that as we itemise this particular Budget, let us have 10 per cent of the COVID- 19 Fund being set aside to cushion PWDs. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, schools are closed and the education sector does not need the normal allocation. We should channel that money to cushion Kenyans probably, by investing it in the agricultural sector. That is because majority of our citizens who are in cities have not been able to pay house rent and bills and have gone back to their rural areas. If we can transfer funds from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Agriculture, we will have a stimulus of agriculture in our rural areas and it would be a solace to the farmers. There is also the pension income for our senior citizens. I hear that it is now being taxed. This Committee should be able to check so that we do not tax pension earned by the senior citizens of our country, whom we are cushioning through cash transfers. I was particularly touched by the speech of the Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah. He was like giving a speech of somebody who is exiting. I deem it as “retirement of a king”. This is because we have interacted with Hon. Kimani The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}