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{
    "id": 1134135,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1134135/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 115,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ledama",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "difference will we have with the Kenyan citizens out there who expect us to go through what is presented to us and protect their interests? I am concerned. I request my colleagues to take some time to read this BPS before voting for it. We are talking about post-COVID-19 period. I do not know whether we should even call it post-COVID-19 since we still have it because Omicron variant is still there. In developed nations and other countries in the world, after a recession – I do not know what else to call it because it is a recession – governments inject money to revive their economies. In this case, we will have the same amount of Kshs370billion, yet they are telling us that the economy has grown. They are also telling us that from today, they will borrow 4 per cent of the GDP locally. Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me to read this. It is stated that: “Going forward, the National Treasury is optimistic that the economy will turn around over the medium term with a projection growth of 6 per cent in 2021, supported by the continued reopening of the service sector, recovery in manufacturing and strong global demand.” Of importance is that the BPS has been prepared since the introduction of the Big Four Agenda and the universal healthcare is one of the Big Four Agenda of the Government. How will you ensure that we attain the universal healthcare, yet you are not increasing money that is supposed to go to the county governments? How will you ensure that we obtain the universal healthcare when you come up with a system that tends to claw back devolved functions from the devolved governments to the national Government? Mr. Speaker, Sir, in this BPS, we are told that they will build about 50 healthcare facilities, but we are not told who will build them. Is it the national Government? What business does the national Government have to carry out a function that is devolved? We saw the President opening clinics in Nairobi at night. How were they built and who paid for them? Were they built by the county governments? Was that money allocated by the Parliament for them to do that? We need to stop this business of being a conveyer belt and look at the issues which are brought here critically because we will be judged harshly by history. To me, this BPS is utopian and completely unattainable. We need to change. We should not allow the National Treasury to borrow locally. If we pass this BPS the way it is today, we will be killing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). We will be telling them to go to other countries and borrow money because they cannot be given any money locally. We looked at this. I am an active Member of the Committee on Health. Among the recommendations we made was to ensure that we protect the devolved functions. The Fourth Schedule of the Constitution is quite clear on what is devolved and health is a devolved function. We always talk about the principle of form following function, yet we do not go by it. When we devolve a function, it should be followed by money. Some of the key recommendations that we came up with, which I want to reiterate, and I hope my colleagues will look at them, is that the Government should look into the issue of borrowing externally and not locally. We are not going to stop you from"
}