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"id": 183423,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
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"legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I beg to support the Vote of the Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030. This October 21, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2845 Ministry is very important and key in realising the goals of development in this country and it is a Ministry that by and large requires very good funding so that the development of this country can be co-ordinated and pushed forward. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want, first of all, to talk about the CDF which takes the largest chunk of the Vote of this Ministry. I know a lot of criticism has come about the management of the CDF from the media, public and very many sources. However, I would say part of the reason for this is the kind of public knowledge about the CDF. The CDF, as it is today, takes 2.5 per cent of the total Government ordinary revenue. The 97.5 per cent is not going to CDF. If you ask the constituents, they will tell you, to the last cent, how much their constituency has been given in terms of CDF but they do not have any information about what goes to other Ministries. This is the main reason why there is public demand for accountability. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would urge the Minister of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 and his officers in general, that there is need for allocation to the CDF to be increased. There is need to triple this amount at the bare minimum. The reason being that the three main political parties that now form the Grand Coalition Government; the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), the Party of National Unity (PNU) and Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM(K)), all promised some level of devolution. The ODM, at least, was very ambitious and we promised to devolve almost 60 per cent of the total revenue. PNU promised a kind of devolution modelled on the CDF concept and I think ODM(K), in their manifesto, also had the same. My question is: Why are these three political parties not moving with speed to implement their desires at the time of campaigns where they had expressed the need to devolve funds to the region by adopting the concept of CDF and increasing the fund allocation? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at the money that goes to the other Ministries, and I have a case in point, which is the Ministry of Roads through the Kenya Roads Board (KRB). You will notice that the way this money is spent and the output, it is questionable. I would have expected more allocation to CDF so that as a Member of Parliament who is accountable to the electorate, after five years and who has a direct accountability because I will be punished anyway if I do not deliver, that more money is allocated to CDF so that I can use it and spend it in improving the road network. In my constituency even if you build permanent schools and carry out other development agenda, if the roads are not fixed, then you still have a problem. So, I plead with the Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 to move with speed and increase allocation to the CDF. Let us deal with the teething problems."
}