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{
    "id": 1459663,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1459663/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 285,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Emurua Dikirr, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Johana Kipyegon",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Urban Planning believe that what has been left is enough to implement the affordable housing programme as well as construct student’s hostels and other infrastructural projects. We believe that when the economy improves, we can have some of the activities that have been excluded reinstated. Many Members have talked about the fact that funds have been appropriated for confirmation of 46,000 JSS intern teachers as permanent and pensionable. This is a relief but we understand that confirming the 46,000 intern teachers does not mean that we are employing new ones. We still have the deficit that we always had. If you go to most of the JSS schools, you will realise that for every class, we have two or three teachers handling more than 10 subjects. You can imagine how strained those teachers are. I am also happy to note that amongst the areas that benefited from the budget is salary increment for police and prison officers. Police officers have not had salary increment for quite some time. This has contributed to low morale and laxity amongst police officers and prison warders, leading to deterioration of the security situation and an increase in corruption that has been witnessed left, right and centre in most parts of the country. Therefore, this salary increment will go a long way towards motivating police officers so that they do their work as required. Hon. Temporary Speaker, there are many other things but my greatest elation is the reduction on areas where there has been a lot of wastage. I have always said that if we really care about this country, we should collect taxes from our people and use the money prudently. This will ensure that the pain people go through while paying all those monies is eased through the work that is being done by the taxes collected. I insist on this because we cannot collect taxes painfully from Kenyans yet on the other side, spend them recklessly. I once said that we should reduce the unnecessary travels by Members of this House, the Senate, the county assemblies, governors and even those in Executive. That way, we can save a lot of money that can go towards development instead of what it is normally utilised for. However, when I said this, most of the Members, even of this House, condemned me. Let us focus on some areas like foreign travel and hospitality. How much money do we spend on hospitality? If you visit most of these offices, there are so many expensive things which are bought that have nothing to do with service delivery. Those are things I would wish that, often, the Budget and Appropriations Committee should ensure that their allocations are completely cut to minimize the wastage that normally occurs. Look at the number of vehicles in the public service. I am one of the people who always thank the great and third President of Kenya, the late Mwai Kibaki, for the austerity measures he introduced in the Government. I remember that before he took office, most of the Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, CEOs and other public servants were driving luxury vehicles comprising of fuel guzzlers. When he took office, he introduced small engine capacity vehicles for use by Government officials. That is something the current President should emulate so that whatever wastage is associated with Government vehicles is stopped. One vehicle should be enough for travels by a Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary. They should not use big vehicles because they only travel for short distances – between their homesteads and the offices. In my opinion, that is an area where we should introduce austerity measures to reduce wastage. Hon. Temporary Speaker, another area we should focus on is the counties. How much money do the county governments spend? Every year, we disburse over Ksh350 billion to counties but there is no clear development that has been done with these monies. About 80 per cent of the money that is disbursed to the countries goes to recurrent expenditure to fund people’s luxurious lifestyles, salaries and travels. Only 20 per cent goes to development. Every year, we strain in 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."
}