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{
    "id": 1081377,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1081377/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 618,
    "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. I rise to second this Motion of the Second Supplementary Estimates for the Financial Year 2020/2021. If you may indulge me, my colleagues talked without masks. I plead with you that I remove my mask. I will be brief because my Chairperson has already done a good job in moving this Bill. I want to start from where he has stopped. As a House, what we need to ask ourselves is: In terms of the timing of this Second Supplementary Estimates for the Financial Year 2020/2021, is it really helping this country? We have just concluded the Annual Estimates of the next financial year. When you bring a Second Supplementary at this time of the year, will the lessons that we have learnt as a result of this process inform the next Annual Estimates? The answer is no. So, I agree with my Chairman that we need to provide a timeline, for example, that by 30th April, we should not have any supplementary estimates so that the lessons we learn from here inform the next budget. These Second Supplementary Estimates are basically to take care of emergencies like lack of vaccines. It is a good move. Kenyans have been complaining that they have not been vaccinated because of lack of vaccines. We are seeing a situation where the Government is making an effort to provide resources to buy vaccines. That is good for the country. It is good we will have money once we approve these estimates. Despite the short time remaining, we will be able to pay for the vaccines. The other issue is the Appropriation-in-Aid (A-in-A). If you can remember, when we were doing the 2020/2021 annual budget, we indicated that it was being done during abnormal times. We needed to seriously think how to accommodate some of the issues that came up. That is why on the issue of A-in-A, we did not have a choice. We went low compared to what we had anticipated. That is why institutions like the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) have to be supported by the Government because tourism has suffered. If we were to be realistic at the time of budgeting, we would have projected low figures as opposed to what was projected. I want to ask this question on the low absorption rates: When you look at this Supplementary Budget, 50 per cent of the reasons why it has been brought to this House are because departments were not able to use the budget that was approved. That is the reason for low absorption rates. The question is: If a department was not able to spend the money we appropriated to it this financial year, have we reduced its money for the coming financial year so that we do not provide more money and end up increasing our budget deficit? This is an area that we need to be serious about. On donor funded projects, what we have realised as a Committee is that the reason why most of those donor funds do not move is because of what we call lack or what I call “counterpart funding.” This is a component that the Government should be providing and it is missing. It is a clear reflection that we need to improve in terms of planning. When planning those projects and agreeing who is funding them, we must make provisions for counterpart funding. In that case, the Government will implement projects on time. On pending bills, I want to report that some amount has been set aside to cater for pending bills. As a Committee, we are concerned about those pending bills. What they do is that they kill the small-scale traders who provide goods and services to the Government, but are not paid on time. Most of them are declared bankrupt because they do not have money. So, a situation where pending bills will be catered for is a move in the right direction and it will help Kenyans. 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."
}