Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1005842,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1005842/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 81,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13331,
        "legal_name": "Wilberforce Ojiambo Oundo",
        "slug": "wilberforce-ojiambo-oundo-2"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to contribute. I do not know what the reference to withdrawal means, especially for the former BAC Chair. I do not know where he is withdrawing from; only God knows. I stand here to support the report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee but with reservations. First of all, it is unimaginable that seven days to the end of the financial year, we are still talking about a supplementary budget. Even if it is to actualise the President’s commitment to the county governments to fund them, he made this commitment way back; I thought this should have been captured much earlier. Secondly, when we talk about development budget, even though my party chair and the Leader of the Minority Party has strenuously tried to explain that some of the requests are already committed, everybody wonders: Seven days to the end of the financial year, you are talking about development expenditure. How long will it take to go through the procurement process and expend this money? Are we legislating in vain? Or are we rubberstamping an action which has already been actualised? Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would have imagined probably at this time that there are areas in this country that are facing extra-ordinary times; Busia County specifically. I would have imagined probably any kind of Supplementary Budget at this time of the day or the year should have actually tried to address the danger and the crisis that we have at the Busia border of Busia Town and Malaba. As usual, we the people from Busia are excluded where decisions are made. We will carry our burdens and suffer silently. One day, God will come to help us out. As I conclude, I am worried that, indeed, the National Treasury and the Executive are misusing Parliament as far as Articles 2 and 3 are concerned. It is explicitly clear that it should not exceed 10 per cent of the initial Budget and of course, there is a rider that Parliament can approve a higher ceiling based on the circumstances. It is improbable to imagine that COVID-19 could be such a circumstance that surely requires us to provide funds to do nothing to do with COVID-19 and nothing that actually sounds like emergency. Probably it is time we, Members of Parliament and Committee on Budget and Appropriations, really have a serious meeting with the Cabinet Secretary (CS) and the Principle Secretary (PS) and clearly explain to them the need to respect the Constitution and Members of Parliament. They must not put us in a precarious situation that because of public good, we simply have to approve otherwise then we are left holding the baby in our hands. Finally, I hope the various departmental committees will call these particular ministries and SAGAS to clearly account for this money. It is always a habit that these things done in a rush become an avenue for corruption. I just hope and pray that the stolen PPEs that were donated, the fake PPEs that have been in various stores will not be used as a conduit to steal this money. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, with those few remarks, I support."
}