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{
    "id": 1382984,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1382984/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 238,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mutinda",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13206,
        "legal_name": "Boniface Mutinda Kabaka",
        "slug": "boniface-mutinda-kabaka-2"
    },
    "content": "acknowledge he is one of the key stakeholders that has great input as far as this committee is concerned. To our surprise, apart from our frequent stakeholders, for the first time, we saw most of the governors appearing. We had about 10 of them who were able to diligently give their time. We also had others like the Institution of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), the Institute of Social Accountability (TISA) and the County Assemblies Forum (CAF). In 2024, the BPS has mainly focused on sustaining the bottom-up economic transformation for economic recovery and improving livelihoods which is highly the manifesto of the current government that I serve in. We pride in ensuring that the BPS that we embarked on focuses on the bottom-up-economic transformation agenda. We also pointed out the different agricultural-economic sectors ranging from rice, tea and coffee. Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale was able to point out the issue that has been seconded by one of the Members, the issue of sugarcane needs to be part of the agricultural sector and economic investment that needs to be highly recognised. The committee highly agrees on the same. I want to note that, with respect to the exchange rate, the Kenya shilling had depreciated by 19.3 against the US$ and 23.4 against the euro. This is what led to the increased debt which amounted to about Kshs800 billion. It is also good to note that the Kenya shilling value compared to the major global currency had increased appreciating to 10.8 per cent against the US$ and 10.9 against the sterling pound. Areas that were of focus on the key interventions ranged from the Housing and Settlement sector. As you can see, as a House, we are looking forward to the Bill on Housing which is one of the key priority target sectors. On agricultural transformation, we have micro, small and medium enterprises. In healthcare, we have the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), the digital superhighway and the creativity industry. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other key thing I have heard Members discuss which I am very pleased is that this time round, we have an increment of about Kshs30 billion to the equitable share. That is from Kshs385 billion to Kshs415.9522 billion. How did we get to this figure? When the governors came before our great committee, their request was Kshs450 billion. However, finance and budgeting are not theoretical, but mathematical and have to be much more factual in terms of the figures that are put in. They have to be more realistic and make sense. In our deliberations as a committee, we were able to note and appreciate that the Ministry of Treasury had suggested Kshs399.1 billion. This is about an increment of Kshs6 billion. County Revenue Allocation (CRA) suggested Kshs398 billion. In our discussion, we were able to analyse some of the reasons brought to us. We looked at why these minimal increments from the National Treasury and CRA. One of the challenges we have noted as a committee, which is being affected by the National Treasury is the approval of the last audited financial reports. The ones that we currently use up to date in the year 2024, is the last audited report for the Financial Year 2019/2020 which stands at about Kshs1.63 trillion yet if we were to adopt the current audited report, it amounts to about Kshs1.9 trillion. If those audited reports were approved by the National Assembly and we were to use that figure The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services, Senate."
}