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"id": 176499,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ngugi",
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"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "David Mwaniki Ngugi",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this very long overdue Bill. This Bill intends to put this country where the rest of the world is. If you look at Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana, they already have it. Even if you look further to Canada, USA, UK, Sweden and Finland, all have a budgetary law. So, we are only taking this country to the level of developed countries. Even if you look at Parliament, we spend 75 per cent of our time discussing the Budget, yet it is shrouded in mystery or secrecy. What this law intends to do is to open up the Budget making process; it will involve Parliament in the Budget making process and enhance Parliament's oversight role. If you take the example of the Vote on Account, the Minister for Finance comes here, reads the Budget and within seven days, we pass it and allow the Government to spend 50 per cent of the budgeted amount without any scrutiny, or Parliament looking at whether that is the right thing to do. What this law intends to do is to say: Does the Government need 50 per cent of the total Budget in seven days? The answer is totally no! Maybe we could approve the Vote on Account for only 25 per cent, then the rest should be scrutinised by the various Committees of the House so that we can see where the money will be spent. Even more important is that this law intends to create a Parliamentary Budget Office. This has been lacking and God knows how we have been operating in these circumstances, where we are supposed to be the oversight body, yet we have no information. The Parliament Budget Office is the one that will be analyzing the Budget and providing information to hon. Members so that they can play their role. This law is very good for this country, because for once, the Minister for Finance will come to the House and say: \"This is the state of the nation. This is the state of the economy. This is how we see it in the next so many years. Based on these assumptions, this is why we are making this Budget.\" Even in the allocations, this law will require that there be criteria. We will, for example, query how did you allocate so much money to December 04, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3895 the Ministry of Public Health as opposed to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation? What was the criteria used to allocate so much money to a small Ministry instead of a big Ministry? For the first time, the Budget making process will be transparent, focused and will not be left to a few technocrats, but will involve everybody who understands where the country is going. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we take, for example, the Budget that was read, the revenues that were projected to be collected by the Government, there was a deficit. If you look at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), in the first quarter of the year, they were short of the targeted revenue by Kshs10 billion. We are not sure that we will meet the rest of the targets of the revenue, yet if you look at the expenditures that were projected, already inflation has moved from the 11 per cent that was estimated then to almost 30 per cent. This means that the Government, as the major spender, will have to spend two or three times more than what it spends. What does this mean? It means if this law is passed, quarterly reports will be brought to this House and it will be able to guide the Ministries. It will say the inflation rate has moved from 11 per cent to almost 30 per cent, and ask what measures are you putting in place to see that you do not over-shoot the Budget? Even on revenue, we expected Kshs33 billion to come from foreign donors which was to be floated. The Government itself has already said that this is not going to be. So, how are we going to fill the gap for Kshs33 billion? In the last Budget, it was read that we will raise Kshs8 billion from privatisation. However, we have not seen, as a House, measures to privatise various parastatals in order to raise this amount. But with these quarterly reports that will be provided in this House, the House will be at top of things. It will be able to ensure that the Budget that is read is relevant. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill is the only one that will liberate the economy of this country. It will make the Ministry of Finance and Minister for Finance work harder and be more focused. The Minister for Finance will come to the House to sell a case that has already been sold to Members, because it has been involved in the Budget-making process. After all, the Budget is for the citizens of this country and the House is the representative of the citizens of this country. With those few remarks, I beg to support this Bill."
}