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{
    "id": 102498,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/102498/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 242,
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    "content": "who mainly appeared to have been passing a vote of thanks to the Ministry of Finance. I will probably deviate from that way of looking at things because, honestly, it appears that this Budget is pro-business. The question that has lingered in my mind is, which business is it pro? I see my aunt or my sister in Kamukuywa Market carrying bananas worth Kshs60 on her head to the market and the county council taxing her Kshs30, and after she sells them, she goes home with Kshs30. She is trying to do her business; I do not see how this Budget has been pro-her – who is the poorest! This Budget is properly pro-big business, not pro-small business. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, I also fail to see what exactly is in this Budget that will ensure rapid industrialization of this country; with industrialization, then that poor sister of mine in Kamukuywa will be able to get a job and be able to earn more than the Kshs30 per day. Industrialization has been taken for granted. We seem to believe that when we put in infrastructure like roads in certain areas, then we industrialize the country. In this Budget, I have not seen any single cent for the road network in Western Kenya, except the trunk roads leading to Uganda. So, I do not know whether we are part of this country or not! Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, in this Budget, I realize that we have said a lot of things which sound very nice. The 300 computers per constituency will go to the schools or wherever. Are the number of schools equal in every constituency? I know that in my constituency, we have about 60 secondary schools. I am being told that I will be given 300 computers, which number will, probably, go to another constituency with about 20 secondary schools. This Budget perpetuates inequity. Inequitable distribution of national resources needs to stop. We need to have real criteria for distribution of the national resources. Let us look at bodies like the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB). This Parliament passed a Motion brought by myself that we should fund middle level colleges and technical training institutes students should be able to access HELB loans, so that they can also be able to continue with education. I do not see it here! There is no way we will industrialize unless we have those middle level technicians. Those are the backbone of industrialization of any country. So far, we have neglected them. How do we expect to meet our Millennium Development Goals of the Vision 2030? The year 2030 is now only 20 years away. If we keep having a generic budget like this, I do not see us attaining those goals. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, look at the youth micro-finance system. We have said this money will go through the banks. The Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) has been going through the banks; how effective has it been? We are perpetuating the same thing now. I do not wish to pour too much cold water but I wish to point out some very essential key issues here. Industrialization is not going to be an accident. We should not sit and hope that it will happen with generic budgets. We must make a concerted effort to ensure that we do this. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, right now, there is a lot of emotion about land. This emotion about land is because we are not an industrialized country. If we were industrialized, there would be less pressure on the land. People will be able to get jobs elsewhere. I do not see how this Budget is leading us in that direction."
}