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{
    "id": 1459706,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1459706/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 328,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kanduyi, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Makali",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me the opportunity to weigh in on this Supplementary Appropriation Bill. We are living in unprecedented times and, therefore, we must make unprecedented solutions. As indicated by the speakers before, this Supplementary Appropriation Bill is unprecedented. As a House, we are dealing with a Supplementary Appropriation Bill barely one month after passing the last Budget. The last month has been a serious period for retrospection and introspection for us as a House. As representatives of the people, the last month has taught us several things. The recent events of 25th June 2024 have reminded us of the old American slogan: “No Taxation without Representation.” The message from Kenyans has been clear that they want openness, transparency and accountability. They do not want wastage and pilferage. As a House of representatives whose clarion call is, “For the Welfare of Society and the Just Government of the People,” we have no choice, but to listen to them. Hon. Temporary Speaker, Kenyans have told us that we need to consult them before making decisions. Public participation is a key constitutional imperative that we must consider. Looking at this Supplementary Appropriation Bill, I ask myself: Does it meet the aspirations of Kenyans, or are we still repeating the same mistake? While moving this Bill, the Chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee indicated that we are expanding our deficit by borrowing more. Kenyans have told us that we have to live within our means. Therefore, as we sit and discuss this Bill, Kenyans are watching us. Are we reducing our borrowing or are we borrowing more? The Report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee says that we have to go up to a 4.8 per cent deficit from the 3.84 per cent deficit. We need to address this in the Committee of the whole House. All is not lost. Let us look at the critical sectors of our economy like agriculture. Agriculture accounts for 18 per cent of our GDP. We are happy that we will have subsidised fertiliser as indicated in the Report. However, we need to ensure that the subsidised fertiliser provided to our farmers is not fake, as it has been in the past. As a House mandated to oversee the Executive, we must raise our bar to ensure that the money allocated to the ministries is used efficiently. The committees of this House must actively oversee these ministries for the benefit of the people we represent. My only disappointment is that we are allocating a paltry Ksh700 million in the budget towards the sugar industry. The Nzoia farmers and employees are owed quite a lot of money courtesy of non-payment. In the Committee of the whole House, I hope we will increase the allocation towards the sugar sector reforms so that our farmers and employees who are in those particular factories can benefit and feel part and parcel of this Government. We will be insisting that moving forward, if we are not able to make up in this Supplementary Appropriation Bill, we should move in the second supplementary budget to ensure that we allocate more funds towards ensuring that we complete the sugar sector reforms which we had started in this particular budget. I am also happy that we are going to employ 46,000 JSS interns. However, I am worried that in my constituency and county, we have teachers who graduated as far as 2013 and they have never been employed. We need to invest more money towards this human capital. I met a teacher who graduated way back in 2013 and was saying he will demonstrate every Tuesday and Thursday because he has never got a job since he graduated in 2013. So, we need to create more employment opportunities, and as we move on, we need to allocate more resources towards employment of our 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."
}