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{
    "id": 1076760,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1076760/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 505,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Danson Mwashako",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13509,
        "legal_name": "Danson Mwashako Mwakuwona",
        "slug": "danson-mwashako-mwakuwona"
    },
    "content": "(Wundanyi, WDM-K). Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this chance to first and foremost support the adoption of the Report of the Budget and Appropriation Committee on the Revenue and the Expenditure Estimates for Financial Year 2021/2022. This morning I am a proud member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. I must congratulate our Chair, Hon. Kanini Kega and all the Members for their sacrifice and commitment for making sure that this Report comes to the House on time. I want to speak about two or three things. This year’s budget is coming at a time when we are faced by a myriad of challenges, one of them being COVID-19. The COVID-19 was unforeseen. The issue of pending bills has been spoken to in this House for quite a while now. I remember about two years ago, our President, His Excellency Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta gave a directive that all pending bills needed to be paid as a first charge by Ministries. This item, pending bills, continues to pile and it appears the National Treasury has not found a way of either enforcing or implementing the presidential directive by making sure that pending bills have been paid. Let me speak to the Ministry in charge of infrastructure and roads. We were told through a submission of the Committee Chair that we have in excess of Kshs90 billion in pending bills only on roads infrastructure. These pending bills have negated the ability of the Ministry to award new contracts that are extremely essential for the growth and development of this country. We have leaves that have been advertised, and the projects under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure that need to be awarded to contractors, but because of pending bills, the Ministry is taking its time. They have indicated that they would like to reduce the more than Kshs90 billion pending bills to some considerable level before they award new projects. This brings into perspective these pending bills, and it makes some of us to analyse them. There are areas in this country that are not beneficiaries of the so-called “pending bills”, meaning that the Kshs90 billion or so that have gone into implementing some projects have been found in specific areas or specific regions of this country. I will tell you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we have a region called Taita Taveta County that has no single coin of the Kshs90 billion 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."
}