{"id":133203,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/133203/?format=json","text_counter":205,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Mr. Kapondi","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":36,"legal_name":"Fred Chesebe Kapondi","slug":"fred-kapondi"},"content":"Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, first and foremost, I wish to thank the Minister for the very eloquent manner in which he has moved this Motion. I wish to say that the Committee did meet the Minister and his team on 10th July, 2009 and we were able to examine the Ministry’s Estimates in detail. The Committee looked at the following areas, as of interest:- the total net amount of money requested from the Exchequer by the Ministry, comparison of the previous year’s allocations, allocations to new projects or programmes, the Ministry’s absorption capacity, projects left out of the Estimates, proposed allocations vis-a-vis the achievements of the Ministry’s Strategic Plan, disaggregated district budgets and other issues related to the subject matter. On comparison of allocations for the Financial Years 2008/09 and 2009/10 Financial Year, the Committee noted with a lot of concern that the allocation for the first time reduced from 7.47 per cent to 6.1 per cent. This is happening at a time when the crime levels in this country are on the rise. Urban crime is increasing. Cattle rustling in pastoral areas is increasing. We noted with a lot of concern that instead of the Ministry’s allocation going up, it is coming down which will more or less, undermine the progress and development in this country."}