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{
    "id": 1532448,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1532448/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 4701,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Constitution should only be used purely for emergency matters. In that case, we will manage the Budget as it should be. The third critical point is the Budget deficit. All the Members in this House know something called fiscal consolidation. It is a matter which is being discussed everywhere in this country. It appears in all Budget proposals. We started very well. We have proposed that in the coming year, we will have a Budget deficit of 4.3 per cent of the GDP. However, I can tell you for sure that by the time we close the year, it will be around 6 per cent or 5.7 per cent. This means we are using the Supplementary Budgets to widen the budget deficit. In reality, the more you do that, the more you create room for more borrowing. The other worrying thing is our borrowing ratio. We have moved from borrowing externally to borrowing domestically. If you look at the ratios, we borrow more domestically than externally. What does that do to our economy? In domestic borrowing, you pay higher interest rates and have a shorter repayment period. The loans become very expensive. That is why much of our revenue goes towards servicing interest payments. I have seen that we have proposed to borrow 65 per cent externally and 35 per cent internally. Once we as a House take that position, can we stick to it so that we do not allow this flexibility, which allows the changing of ratios? It has serious implications for the economy. As we approve this Supplementary Budget because it is important, we must also analyse it. What do these additional figures do to our Budget deficit in terms of the ratios we approved the other time? The other thing is the prioritisation of expenditure. This worries me a lot. I speak as an economist. In any economy, we must have priorities in terms of where we spend our money as a country—public expenditure. When you analyse this, in most cases, you will not be surprised to find that we are pushing additional resources for Recurrent Expenditure and not Development Expenditure. How I wish we, as House, could start saying that enough is enough, and that we want to see more resources being channelled to Development Expenditure as opposed to Recurrent Expenditure. In that case, we will grow our cake. The bigger the cake becomes, the more we can all share it, and everyone gets a part of it. Prioritising expenditure is a matter that has been addressed for many years I have been in this House. As a House, we need to be very firm so that when the Budget and Appropriations Committee says where we need to be, Members support that position. That way, Supplementary Budgets will help the country instead of making things worse. I am happy to see that the revenue status is changing. The Leader of the Majority Party has said that we are now collecting more than we had projected. However, when you look at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) statistics, we are still underperforming in most revenue streams. We are not performing as expected. I wish that we also ensure that we do not have any leakages when it comes to revenue collection. In that case, we will get more revenue to fund our activities. In conclusion, I am happy to hear that we have put more focus on areas like the Social Health Authority (SHA) and education. Health workers are complaining, and university funding is a problem. We have challenges with SHA in terms of financing most of the critical areas and primary healthcare. It is important that we allocate more resources to these social sectors because they form the foundation for proper economic development. With those many remarks, Hon. Speaker, I support the Motion."
}