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{
    "id": 1076657,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1076657/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 402,
    "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": " Hon. Deputy Speaker, I hope my few seconds will be compensated. It was not easy to make this Budget and, more so, based on the prevailing conditions in the country and the world. However, the economic fundamentals informing this Budget are quite strong. Despite the few risks which my Chair has mentioned, I hope Members noticed that if the assumptions underlying the Budget do not get changed as we move on, we are likely to realise the projected revenue. Looking at this Budget, for the first time, I would say that the projected revenue for this financial year appears to be more realistic as compared to the past years. We are likely to generate the proposed Kshs2.03 trillion. On the issue of private consumption…We seem to be monitored keenly. It is a fact in this country that what we call household income has seriously been eroded as a result of people losing their jobs and businesses. So, the demand side of the equation has a challenge. The other item we need to monitor seriously is the cost of energy. This is a threat to the inflation rights in this country. At the same time, unless the food prices continue to remain very low, it may be a risk because of the energy cost. As we look at this Budget keenly, there is a need to look at the way we are investing the money and, more so, the development budget. Time has come when any investment which is going to be taken in this financial year must target high priority areas where the expected returns are also very high. I just want to say a few things related to some of the things my Chairman has said. If you look at the pending bills, all the departments which appeared before us as a Committee did report very huge pending bills. What is critical is that these pending bills need to be analysed. I just want to single out one of the departments, namely, the State Department of Infrastructure, where we have pending bills relating to compensation. Kenyans out there have gone out of their way to give land to the Government to do roads, but these people have not been compensated for many years. I think this is really unfair to Kenyans who have given out land. These are areas where the Government needs to go out of its way to make sure that these kinds of pending bills are cleared because they affect our people. The other point is the issue of the Consolidated Fund Services. Just as the Chair has said, this item has already gone beyond the Recurrent Expenditure of this Government. I think we need to basically make sure that as a House that oversees the Executive, we start looking at the detailed explanatory notes to see what is in the Consolidated Fund Services. It is very important for this House for purposes of accountability and transparency. When these figures keep on moving up, then we have very minimal budget flexibility as a House, as Departments and even as the Treasury. In budgeting, there is a very small room to change things. It is like a straight jacket where you pay The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}