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{
    "id": 1496873,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1496873/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 95,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "that we get here and the quality of the technical staff that we have assisting us as legislators. Mr. Speaker, Sir, 30 per cent is on something called the affirmative action. That is a point where you include People Living with Disabilities (PLwDs) and regions that are least represented. This policy is so specific. We fine-tuned it to include it even in programmes that we run. I will give you another example. You know for a fact that Parliament of Kenya runs an internship programme for our young lawyers. They come here to intern and we pick the best. That programme is so specific because we cannot get 47 students at ago. I think we normally pick 14 or 15, I am not sure, but a number like that. Once a particular county has presented a candidate for that programme, they have to sit out until the rest of the country has had an opportunity. I was just citing examples of part of the work that is being undertaken by, say, our committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration on the topic of inclusion. There are many other things that we have been asked. There are many things that Kenyans still expect us to do better. I do not see Sen. Roba today here, but you know that part of our recommendations was an audit of the public debt done internally by us as Parliament with recommendations made on how this can be better managed so that we do not have haphazard figures being splashed here and there. What is it that we paid last year? We know that part of the reason why we are having economic challenges in the country is because at 70 per cent debt to revenue exposure, most of the revenue that we are presently collecting, this revenue that many people are complaining about is actually funds that we have already consumed, 70 per cent. Therefore, for every Ksh100 that Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) collects, 70 per cent is being used to service debt. We had asked our Finance and Budget Committee to look into that and perhaps guide the country for the country to appreciate what needs to be done in that particular space. So that is work that is pending that Budget and Finance Committee needs to review. We have even the issue of the wage bill and the cost of running Government that stands at an astronomical. I think it is at Kshs1.6 trillion per year; paying salaries and operation and maintenance. We had said that there must be deliberate efforts by the Executive to bring down the cost of running Government. The beauty with a budget, it is so open and plain, there is nothing to hide about it. It is either being done or not done. What do we expect of our Budget and Finance Committee? Sen. Faki is here. I do not see Sen. Roba, but probably there are other Members of that particular Committee. Eventually when they file that report, they will tell us whether National Treasury has complied. They are living up to the Presidential Proclamation that was made at that time. The President promised the country that indeed we will make deliberate efforts to bring down the cost of running Government. We need to see as a legislature and the oversight arm of Government, that there is that policy. Are there parastatals, for example, that are being merged? Is there a deliberate effort to bring down the cost of wages by ensuring that you rationalise staff personnel across? I want to believe that there are Ministries, which either are over- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}