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{
"id": 183114,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/183114/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ethuro",
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"speaker": {
"id": 158,
"legal_name": "Ekwee David Ethuro",
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I hope I have my ten minutes. I want to thank you very profusely for giving me this opportunity. I want to speak from a position of authority. First, I am the Chairman of CDF, a Committee of this House. Secondly, I am a former Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Planning and National Development, and an authority in Development Economics. The theme of the Budget for this year was \"working together to build a cohesive, equitable and prosperous Kenya\". The Minister for Finance spelt out the things that they will need to do in order to build a cohesive, equitable and prosperous nation. One of them, in addition to the restoration of the economy, is the reduction of poverty and inequality through accelerated regional development, and also deepening the human development efforts for a higher productivity and economic prosperity. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it pains me to be in an awkward position against the Minister. This is a Ministry that I would ordinarily support. This is a Ministry that has the most competent professionals in this country in terms of sound economic theory; it is a team that is working very hard, and has some of the best statisticians in the whole of Africa. I want to oppose this Vote. I am opposing this Vote because, first, as the Chairman of CDF, the Minister of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 has given out Kshs10.1 billion when the CDF Act, Section 4 (2)(a) talks of an amount of money equal to, and not less than, 2.5 per cent of the ordinary revenues. The estimated ordinary revenues were Kshs465 billion. I am not \"cooking\" these figures from Turkana. These are figures from the good offices of the Government of Kenya. When you do October 22, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2939 the calculation, it bring you to Kshs11.6 billion. The Minister in his Printed Estimates, has gone ahead to allocate Kshs10.1 billion. I want to draw the attention of the Minister to the Constitution of Kenya, Section 100(3) that the Minister needs to demonstrate to this House that if an item has been under-spent, then he should bring a supplementary estimate to this House. I am hoping that when the Minister will reply--- I am not going to rest this matter here; it is a notice to him. When he replies, he should give a firm indication to this House as to how and when he is going to give the difference between Kshs11.6 billion and Kshs10.1 billion. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this House needs to communicate to the Executive in very clear terms, and without mincing our words. You cannot take Kenya for a ride and definitely, not the Tenth Parliament. That is one reason why I do not want to support this Motion. The second reason, which is more substantial, is that the Minister of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, in some weird wisdom, has decided to discard the poverty index. Maybe, he is informed by the former speaker, Mr. Githae. Maybe, he is informed by some interests. My suspicion is that whoever put the Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 under the Office of the Prime Minister is the source of our problems. You cannot purport to be interested in poverty reduction and inequality--- When the Ministry had used the current poverty indices, constituencies in Arid and Semi- Arid Lands (ASALs) would have been given Kshs167 million against a loss of Kshs40 million. We are talking of a difference of about Kshs100 million."
}