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{
    "id": 1456578,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1456578/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 3968,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiambaa, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Njuguna Kawanjiku",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Budget and cut quite a number of development budgets, so that we could sustain ourselves as a country. We removed what we can live without from the Budget, and funded and supported what we cannot live without, especially in areas that support our people at the bottom of the pyramid. We looked into the issue of JSS because it supports the education sector in our country. Majority of our people can only eliminate poverty in their homes through educating their family members and fellow Kenyans. This will ensure that they gain their confidence and get certificates to take them to the next level. No matter how difficult it is to support the JSS teachers, we decided to cut the budget in other areas and make sure that we have money to employ 46,000 teachers, so that we can support our Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). This will ensure that we retain as many students in our schools as we can. We had allocated Ksh4 billion to the Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund (CCARF). Because of the difficulties of raising the revenue, we deducted Ksh1 billion and remained with Ksh3 billion. This will support our coffee farmers to continue with coffee farming. The coffee sector has a high impact in our economy. Part of it helps us to generate foreign exchange. The moment we export our coffee to other countries, we retain and gain foreign exchange. This will make sure that our shilling is stronger against the dollar. It will also ensure that we support what we can import and export. On the same note, we retained Ksh2 billion for milk coolers. This will help our dairy farmers to contain and maintain milk in a better form. We have also allocated funds for the farmers and the New Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC). This will ensure that every farmer can have minimum guaranteed returns and maintain a Ksh50 sale per litre of milk. Depending on the number of litres a dairy farmer gets every day, he can manage and plan his income because he is guaranteed of the amount of money that he or she will earn. In that way, we will support our local farmers with resources. There is a very serious gap between the farmer, broker and retailer. The New KCC or brokers buy the milk at a very low price of around Ksh40 or Ksh30 per litre. However, one litre of milk in the supermarket is sold at Ksh100 or Ksh120. From this, we realise that the farmer does not benefit from his input to produce that one litre of milk. Therefore, we decided to put a minimum guaranteed returns to secure the farmer and make sure that he or she can benefit from the amount of money that the New KCC sells milk at the market. We also looked at the school feeding programme which is very essential. Even if there was a lot of politics going on about where the school feeding programme should be stationed, as a Committee, we decided not to transfer that service to disaster management. We took it back to the Ministry of Education because they have a better overview and infrastructure to make sure that they distribute those foods to the learners. The moment we transfer the school feeding programme to other State Departments that have no clue and infrastructure to make sure that the food gets to the learners in the arid areas, we will lose it. We thought it was prudent to allocate the money under the Ministry of Education which can decide what to do with it and how to distribute it to make sure that our learners get food in their schools. We all agree that no matter what is happening within our country, we must come back to our senses and support this economy. We do not have any other Kenya. We only have one. Whatever is happening outside there is very demoralising. But we need to tell our fellow Kenyans that going forward, we will make sure that we manage our resources prudently. The Government must deal with wastage conclusively. I support the President on areas that he decided to do away with. We do not need the offices of the First Lady and Second Lady. These are the things that we can deduct and reduce the cost, so that we can support the local manufacturers. 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."
}