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{
    "id": 122842,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/122842/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 323,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir for giving me this opportunity. I would like to inform the Minister that we have just started debating this Bill; he should allow us to debate. We have issues to raise. Therefore, let us debate the Bill. This Bill should have been passed even before we went on recess, were it not for the standoff between the Executive and Parliament, which was for a good cause. I believe that this country needs the money. This House needs to give various Government Ministries and Departments money to function. If you had an opportunity, I am privileged because I sit in the Budget Committee, you would realize that some Ministries have already exhausted their Vote on account. Hon. Mungatana mentioned the Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, which has exhausted its Vote on account on both Recurrent and Development Expenditure. So, for these Ministries to function in the rest of the year, we need to give it money to carry out its activities. However, this raises one fundamental issue. There seems to be a problem in the management of the Budget in the entire Government. You will realize that there is a mismatch between the Recurrent Expenditure and the Development Expenditure. One would argue that we spend Development Expenditure so as to implement the development part of the Budget. However, there is a situation where you find a Ministry has spend up to 80 per cent of its Recurrent Expenditure, and only 10 per cent or less of the Development Expenditure. The question is, what are our officers there for? What are they doing for this country? Why should we pay them? Why should we spend Recurrent Expenditure if they are not developing this country? I have a case in point of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, which has spent close to 70 per cent of its Recurrent Expenditure under the Vote on account. However, they have spent less than 30 per cent of the Development Expenditure. The question is, why can the Ministry not absorb the development budget?"
}