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{
    "id": 1005918,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1005918/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 157,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Samburu North, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Alois Lentoimaga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2756,
        "legal_name": "Alois Musa Lentoimaga",
        "slug": "alois-musa-lentoimaga"
    },
    "content": " Thank you so much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I do not want to belabour on the issue of the Supplementary Budget, but from my experience and training, supplementaries are done only to relook at budgets. It used to be done in February and only once in a financial year. But this Supplementary Budget we are going through now has come because of a habit we have formed for the last three years. I remember, two years ago, even before we operationalised the budget that was passed in June, we put a Supplementary Budget maybe around September. Supplementaries are always, as we all know, meant to address unforeseen circumstances - things that were not taken care of during budgeting. In my experience, these sometimes are issues of war and pandemics like COVID-19, floods, drought and any other unforeseen circumstances that are not covered during the actual budget-making process. So, a supplementary budget is becoming meaningless. It is becoming uncalled for. Maybe it is meant to create spending sprees. I think this House should start looking at it critically. When do we have a supplementary budget? That is so that we do not create a situation where we become rubber stampers. On the issue of health, so that I can move quickly, I support this Supplementary Budget because of COVID-19. If it were not for COVID-19, we would have objected to this Supplementary Budget. I have heard Members talk so much about health. It is important to address the issue of health and to fund it. I have seen the counties that are being addressed and given money. Some of our counties are not mentioned. Samburu is far away from Nairobi. Around us are Laikipia, Marsabit and Turkana across the lake. They have all reported positive cases. We have not reported a positive case. It is not that we do not have a positive case. It is because there is no testing. I am certain about that. Testing is done more than 600 kilometres from Samburu. So, I thought some of these cases of counties which have not reported any positive case should be protected and equipped. We do not have a single ICU bed in Samburu. So, we should have invested more in counties which have not reported any positive case to prevent COVID-19 from happening. I do not think this Supplementary Budget is cast in stone. If the Committee brings a report on the Supplementary Budget to the plenary, we have a right to amend it. We are right to discuss it and also make an input on it. Let us not be gagged that one will not bring an amendment. Why not? We should be allowed to do that. On Loiyangalani-Suswa High Voltage Power Line, I want to state that Samburu and Marsabit are the source of that wind energy. Part of that line is in my constituency. Even though I do not have facts, I am shocked to learn about the budget-cut for Loiyangalani-Suswa Power Line. Despite the fact that this line traverses 200 km across Samburu County, we do not benefit from that wind power. In Samburu North, we only have one generator in Baragoi. The rest of the constituency is in darkness. Even though we were compensated, this line occupies most of our land. The House and the Departmental Committee on Energy should help us address this issue. When the President launched that line, he directed that it be extended from the source, Sarima to South Horr. Nothing has happened since then. We must address these pertinent issues affecting people who should be the beneficiaries of this energy."
}