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{
    "id": 1217034,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1217034/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 315,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, we were promised a Budget cut of Ksh300 billion in this financial year. That has not happened in this Supplementary Budget. Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah is talking about Article 223, under which the other Government spent amounts that cannot now allow them to cut the Budget by Ksh300 billion. The same Report he is reading is talking of only Ksh130 billion in total spent under Article 223 of the Constitution. Both the previous and the current regimes, including the Office of the Deputy President, have spent Ksh130 billion. For heaven’s sake, that is not Ksh300 billion. So, the question is, even if that is what distorted your pledge and promise that you made to the people of Kenya with flowery language of Ksh.300 billion, then you should tell us where the difference of Ksh170 billion is. You have not succeeded in reducing the Budget with Ksh300 billion as you promised Kenyans. That is why I was saying we must hold leaders accountable, starting with the President. The President of the Republic of Kenya promised Kenyans publicly that in the 2022/2023 Financial Year, he was going to cut the Budget by Ksh300 billion. Where is the Ksh300 billion in this Supplementary Budget or when are you going to cut the Budget by ksh300 billion? Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah, you can only mislead other people, not Hon. John Mbadi. Secondly, on the issue of Article 223 of the Constitution, I agree entirely with the Committee, and with the Leader of the Majority Party and the Leader of the Minority Party, that this Article is not just abused. It is an Article through which the people of Kenya have allowed the Executive to steal. That is the plain fact. Let us not sugar-coat it. The Executive has been stealing using Article 223 of the Constitution. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I want to assure Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah that the Public Accounts Committee has already made a resolution that we are going to audit expenditure under Article 223 for the previous two financial years, including the current one. On this one, I am not going to play politics. People know that when I chair a Committee, I do not play politics. We are going to be objective, transparent and it is going to be public. Any public officer who has spent money inappropriately will be held to account. The Controller of Budget made the excuse that there was a gun held on her head. I want to remind you. Maybe, people have forgotten or they were not around then. During the 10th Parliament, immediately we passed the new Constitution, I remember standing in this House and raising the issue that, under the new dispensation, the Government could not spend money on Vote on Account before 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."
}