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{
"id": 1532447,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1532447/?format=api",
"text_counter": 4700,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
"speaker": null,
"content": "because they have seen what it takes to process a budget. You procedurally look at the bigger picture, not the Departmental Committee picture, which my friend Hon. Murugara is focused on. I am very happy that he has managed to go through this process under the stewardship of a different Committee of the National Assembly. Hon. Speaker, having said so, I want to make a few observations. Article 223 of the Constitution is where issues of Supplementary Estimates are anchored. Normally, there are two key areas to consider when dealing with a Supplementary Budget. The purpose of a Supplementary Budget is to address issues of unplanned activities critical for nation-building. Hon. Speaker, the second one is on emergencies. Anytime we process a Supplementary Budget, we should consider these things. However, over time, there has been a problem with how we process it. If you look at the past reports of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, you realise that these things have been captured many times. One of the key areas in which we raise concerns is the development budget. The Public Finance Management Act, 2012, provides that we should have a ratio of at least 70 per cent Recurrent Expenditure and 30 per cent Development Expenditure. In many cases, when making the annual estimates, we try to adhere to these ratios. However, when you start working on the Supplementary Budget, what suffers many times is the development budget. In most cases, as we close the year, you realise that the development budget is reduced to a level which cannot sustain serious economic growth. This is a matter the House needs to take very seriously so that even as we process this Budget, we ensure that we do not allow a serious reduction of the development budget unless we do not want to grow the economy. This is one area I needed to mention. The other critical area, because I have looked at the Supplementary Budget, is public participation. I will mention the history of where it started. It was allowed in this House so that when you go out there and interact with Kenyans in different counties, it is not just a case of talking to people and not doing anything as Parliament. As the National Assembly, we agreed that it was important for the Executive to allow some resources so that when Parliament goes out for public participation, it can include some projects of public interest in the Budget, which may not be captured by the Executive. We introduced public participation resources based on that. However, they have been abused over time. I saw the debate about public participation yesterday. Because I have been a Member of this Committee for a long time, we have ensured that every five years, none of the counties goes without being visited by the Budget and Appropriations Committee. The allocation has always been Ksh100 million for each county. I challenge my colleagues to tell me which county has never been visited within five years so that they can get their public participation money. Lately, there has been a tendency whereby even after allocating money for public participation, we end up removing the same resources during Supplementary Estimates. This House should defend the position that that money should never be reduced during Supplementary Budget. The other bit relating to that is the situation whereby it is known we have some money. If you look at the BPS, we have allocated Ksh3 billion for public participation. You will not understand. You will find we have Ksh10 billion for public participation when the annual estimates come. You ask yourself where it came from. I do not want to go into details, but if it is required, I will provide them because I have been on this Committee for a long time. As a House, we must protect the money meant for public participation to achieve our goal as Parliament. This will help us to be seen as doing something in the budget-making process. The other important issue is the misuse of the emergency kitty. I like what the Leader of the Majority Party has said. We have seen many times when the national Treasury goes out of its way to use Article 223 of the Constitution to fund activities which can never be categorised as emergencies. As a House, we need to guard that position. Article 223 of the 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."
}