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"id": 180345,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ogindo",
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"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Martin Otieno Ogindo",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Finance Bill, 2008. I rise to support the Bill, but I want to say that this is a unique time for Kenya, now that we have a Coalition Government. Every Government, given a chance, can implement its policies. In Kenya, we have made several promises, some of November 11, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3361 which are to increase employment, ensure equity and increase the rate of development in this country. We regret the events of the earlier part of this year. First of all, I want to start by congratulating the Minister for bringing the Finance Bill, 2008, in a manner that allows it to move through its motions. Our Budget stands at Kshs760 billion. What the Finance Bill, 2008, seeks to do is to finance that Budget. However, before I get to the financing part of it, I find it regrettable that, out of the Kshs760 billion, this country needs to prioritise infrastructure development. There is big talk about Obama and Kogelo, and the increased tourist attraction in that area. However, the road in that area cannot allow people to reach Kogelo. Of course, I am glad the Government is in the process of expanding the airport. But one would need to take a drive to appreciate the situation. Against that background, and against the need for this country to prioritise its infrastructure development, I have sampled the allocations that have been given to roads, water and energy. Those three Ministries take about 14 per cent of our Budget. I have tried to contrast those allocations with the Votes of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of State for Defence, and the Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security. Those three Ministries combined, take about 15 per cent of Budget. The Ministry of Agriculture, which is the mainstay of this country's economy, takes about 1.7 per cent. It matters where we get our money, but it matters more where we take our money. It is time this House made it a rule that our Development Vote be allocated a certain percentage of our Budget, preferably not less than 20 per cent of our Budget. Going through the financing of this Budget, as contained in the Finance Bill, 2008, I see that our local revenue will give us about 61 per cent of the total revenue. Out of this, about 28 per cent will come from Income Tax, about 20 per cent will come from Value Added Tax (VAT), about ten per cent will come from taxes on other goods and services. However, what is striking here is that this Budget is financed 30 per cent by borrowing. Twenty per cent of the borrowing is from the domestic market. I have had discussions with the Treasury. The domestic debt is twice as expensive as external debt. Looking at expenditure, we realise that about 22 per cent goes into debt servicing of our revenue. The need to finance our Budget creates the need to expand our taxation. I want to make a suggestion that this should be looked at in a roundabout way. It would be more strategic to maintain a level of taxation and re-examine our expenditure. Anybody will tell you that the Kenyan taxation level is not ranking very low internationally. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, looking at the total Budget, the Minister, in his speech said, about Kshs209 billion will go into Recurrent Expenditure. We also have the capital expenditure in our Budget. However, a lot of what we call capital expenditure is not capital expenditure. I want to take this opportunity to make a suggestion that, instead of making a recurrent allocation for the purchases of vehicle, we make it a rule because every vehicle could have a lifespan of about five years, we should then replace the stock of Government vehicle by 20 per cent. If we go that direction of looking at our expenditures, we will have reduced the need to expand our taxes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know we are doing most of the taxes with the aim of easing the pressure on the common man. Today, the biggest problem we have in Kenya is the high cost of living. This has been brought about by several factors including the high cost of fuel. We continue to blame the high cost of fuel but locally, the high cost of transport as a result of poor roads is a contributing factor. If we are to address these issues, then we need an integrated approach. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we talk of zero-rating tax on motor cycles. It will serve very little purpose if we enable our youths acquire motor cycles but we do not provide the 3362 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 11, 2008 roads on which they are going to ride them. In the end, we are going to give the youth false hope. He will invest his money in the motor cycle, then after a while he will not be able to cope with maintenance cost. It is out of these failed policies that we have bitter youths out there. It would be better if we prioritize infrastructure and then we empower our youth to get these motor cycles. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, I want to move to expenditure side of the Budget. One of the troubling area is the public debt. This area consumes a lot of resources of this country. The sooner we opened up this areas, the better for this country. Today, Kenyans are paying debts. Every Kenyan born is born with a debt of about Kshs25,000 on his head. I am paying these debts but unfortunately, I have no idea what they were used for. I think in the name of transparency and accountability, this is the time we need to open up our public debt register with clear indications of where the money came from and where it went. As we continue to pay, we pay knowing what goods or service we are paying for. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}