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{
    "id": 1459639,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1459639/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 261,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitutu Masaba, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Clive Gisairo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "agenda. If you look at the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), it has challenges. We went around the country to universities and there is a big disconnect between the students in universities in Nairobi and the students in universities in rural areas. It is my strong belief that we need to enable the HELB to move around and get in touch with reality. If we insist that when university students have an issue they must travel to Nairobi for their problems to be solved, we will be making things worse for our youths. So, we need to fund the HELB properly, be it administratively or in other services, for it to serve the grassroots students. We appreciate that in this Supplementary Appropriation Bill, security has been well taken care of. Our police officers will get better pay. These are the people who provide security for us. They are always on the frontline to combat crime and other ills in the society. So, that is a gain done by the Budget and Appropriations Committee. I want to slightly differ with the common assertion that has come from some Members who have spoken that the NG-CDF lost Ksh30 million. I would prefer that we look at things more positively. I do not believe that the NG-CDF lost. These are hard times and everyone had to take the heat. What we need to tell Kenyans is how much the current amount we are getting to the constituencies has done and how prudent we can be to ensure that the little that we get delivers more to our people. If we visit the 290 constituencies, can the Constituencies Development Fund Committees (CDFCs) show us that the little they got has been of benefit to the people? If it is, let us be more efficient with what we have. Let us not cry of losing yet it is not a deduction. We anticipated more but that more is not there. We are retaining what we had. Let us not dampen the mood. We have done well with the resources we had. We can do better with the same resources. On the health sector, again, this Supplementary Appropriation Bill has ensured that the interns are well taken care of because we need a healthy nation. We need our youth to have jobs. It is painful for any parent to educate a child only for the child to come out of school and sit at home with a medical degree, for example, a trained clinical officer sitting at home. So, this is a sign that the Government is concerned with our health providers by ensuring that they are all taken care of and it will keep absorbing more. I want to inform the incoming Cabinet Secretaries that – some of them happen to come from near where I seat in this House – we will be hard on them if they do not take into consideration the views of Kenyans. This is a starting point to have a progressive country; a country that presents to its people a progressive budget. A budget that indicates our ability and encourages us to live within our means. Electrification is a challenge. I hope that in the next Supplementary Appropriation Bill, rural electrification will get more funding. Lastly, we are still wasting money on state departments that can be merged. We need to look into areas that can be consolidated to save taxpayers money. I support the Supplementary Appropriation Bill. Thank you."
}