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{
    "id": 1051868,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1051868/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 105,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "with four facilities and policy. Their budgets are bigger than many of the counties combined. That money should be transferred into the kitty of equitable share and not the national Government saying where it must go to. That is the work of the Senate. The Cash Disbursement Schedule must be followed. I am very happy and proud as a Senator because I brought Kshs15 billion in the first year and because of that fight, we have gone to Kshs19 billion. Nairobi City County with a budget of Kshs37 billion this financial year - we are in February - has only received Kshs4.7 billion out of Kshs37 billion. It is Kshs4.7 billion on current and zero on development. We are heading to March. In five months, you will want Nairobi City County to absorb Kshs31 billion. How will that work? There is what we pass, but also urge the Committee on Finance and Budget to help us in budget tracking and implementation to make sure that what we pass actually goes in. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we gave our remarks as a Committee, the Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare. We gave them to the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget and I hope they have been looked at. We asked that the biggest challenge in this country is unemployment and more money must be put into dealing with unemployment. We talked about the National Employment Authority (NEA) that has a huge role. In the last four years, they have helped us secure 70,000 jobs, which we can list. That is the one which I can say I know for sure. The NEA has helped us secure 70,000 so far. The 70,000 was just in one country, that is, Saudi Arabia. If you look at Oman, Dubai and other countries, there is a huge potential. We begged that in this BPS, on top of the big projects we are doing. Please, let us incorporate a school feeding programme. Our children are struggling and suffering, especially in the urban areas in their schools. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support this report. I have no amendments to it. However, I just ask that as the Senate, let us review our processes, so that we are not just doing public relations or working in vain. The recommendations we make are very good. I must applaud Sen. Kibiru for leading the Committee on Finance and Budget very well. He is dressed like a Cabinet Secretary for Finance. He has given his budget speech. I must applaud him and urge him to be more radical. Being radical and asking questions does not mean not supporting the Government. Nowadays I know there is that notion in the air that when you ask questions, you are not supporting the Government. However, we support the Government by telling it the truth. We are going into a hole. If we are asked to raise the budget ceiling to Kshs12 trillion, we shall refuse. We cannot allow that. In fact, we want the real consolidation by reducing our budget moving forward to at least Kshs1.5 trillion, and let us see how to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I support."
}