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{
    "id": 1056517,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1056517/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "Even as I support the Report, one of the comments I made then and I would like to make now is that this BPS is fairly business as usual. It does not take into account the circumstances under which we operate as a country. We have just experienced COVID-19 which still subsists. There are weather-related shocks and 2022 is an election year. But if you see the way the BPS is couched, it mentions those challenges, but does not actually propose a clear strategy to deal with them. The BPS is very optimistic and projects a 7 per cent economic growth in the year. That is fairly possible because of the battered economy as a result of the circumstances we are talking about. It will take a while before the growth is realised by ordinary Kenyans, especially by the poorer and vulnerable like women. I hoped it would focus on a very clear post-COVID-19 recovery strategy that focuses on the growth sectors and also cushions Kenyans that are most likely to be affected, especially women and young people in the affected industries. I do appreciate and acknowledge that because of legacy projects. There is a very delicate balancing act. We have to ensure that the legacy projects are realised. It would be foolhardy for us to say they should be stopped, because we know this is the last financial year for the President. We hear different voices. The same people telling the president to stop the projects here are the ones who go out in the public to attack the President for not completing those projects, including my good friend the former Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, Hon. Ichung’wah. Because of the legacy projects, there must be a very delicate balancing act to ensure that the projects that the President has set out to do are actually done. I have spent my time going around this country quietly and the President is implementing a lot of infrastructural works in certain areas where people are attacking him. People in those areas will realise it when he is gone. Right now they may not realise that he is implementing quite a bit of infrastructural work. It is the same way we forget we attacked Mwai Kibaki, the former President, but now we keep saying Mwai Kibaki’s days were good. I think it is human nature. Hon. Temporary Deputy Chairman, I do not know what is happening with my system. I hope you will take account of it when it finally stops. One of the issues of concern to me, as some Members have said, is the issue of the linkage between the BPS and the Budget. There is always a discordance. We have raised it with the Treasury and we hope it will be rectified. Second is the issue of pending bills. I know we have spoken very strongly as the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Many people are reeling from the effects of COVID-19, but they already had pending bills from the Government. Many people are committing suicide. We see very outrageous behaviour. Even if you look at the ongoing by-elections, the level of violence that is being witnessed—even though usually there is violence—is a bit unprecedented. Members have spoken to the issue of NG-CDF and we must deal with it. There are many constituencies that will be disadvantaged if money is not released. That will lead to inequity, which is unconstitutional. There is also need for a clear debt management strategy. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, with your kindness, could I have one minute because of the interruptions?"
}