Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1056546,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1056546/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 238,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Let me also add my voice to this very important debate. I have taken time to look through this Policy Paper and as a Member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, I have also participated in the discussions. In this country, our monetary policy is stable but we have challenges with fiscal policy. If I had my own way or if Parliament had its way, this is what I would recommend. Because of the time element, I will not be able to go into details. We need to seriously think about fiscal consolidation. If you look at what is being proposed in the East Africa Region, we are supposed to be working towards 3 per cent, but Kenya used to be at about 6 per cent and now we are at 7.5 per cent. There is also a projection that we might be going to 9 per cent, if we are not careful. So, in terms of fiscal consolidation, you have two sides of the coin. There is the revenue projections and there is the expenditure side. In terms of revenues, as a country, we have been very unrealistic in terms of what we project. What I would recommend is for the National Treasury and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to become more serious and start giving this country more realistic revenue projections. The truth of the matter is that as a country we are punching below our weight and we need to improve. On the expenditure side, I think this country is experiencing what I call wasteful expenditure. That has been confirmed by the Auditor-General. What I would propose is, even as we talk about public debt and all the other things, we need to think about growth enhancing expenditure so that we grow the cake. The challenge is, we are spending and not growing the cake. If we want to help this country as Parliament, we need to ensure that whatever comes here from National Treasury in terms of expenditure must be growth enhancing expenditure. If we want to assist the demand side of the equation, we need to pump more money to the vulnerable groups. That is why I want to congratulate the Executive for adding more money to the"
}