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"id": 192177,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
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"legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Let me repeat my name once again. I am Mr. Mbadi, Member of Parliament for Gwassi. I appreciate the circumstances under which this Budget was prepared, and I believe that many expected a more unpopular Budget than what was presented on the Floor of the House. I can also not fail to highlight a few weaknesses that are in the Budget Estimates. When one goes through the copies of Printed Estimates, one cannot fail to notice that the figures that were presented by the Minister do not add up. The Minister did state that the total projected expenditure for 2008/2009 will be Kshs759.8 billion, and out of that the Minister stated that Kshs512.7 billion will be financed from both ordinary revenue and Appropriations-in-Aid (A-in-A). That leaves a balance of Kshs247.1 billion. Out of that, the Minister went ahead to state that 81.2 billion will come from external grants and loans. Arithmetic shows that, that would leave us with a Kshs165.9 billion deficit. The Minister stated that external financing, financing by privatisation proceeds and by infrastructure bonds, that are intended to be issued, would give Kshs25.2 billion, Kshs8 billion and Kshs52.1 billion respectively, giving us a total of Kshs85.3 billion. That leaves us with Kshs80.6 billion deficit to fund. But the Minister stated that only Kshs36 billion will come from domestic borrowing. That leaves a gap of Kshs44.6 billion, without a proper explanation as to how it will be financed. That is a danger that we, probably, will not finance the full Budget for the year. That will hurt the development Budget more. Further, if the total Budget has to be financed, then the Ministry will have to borrow more from the domestic market, and that will have the effect of distorting the economy, because the interest rates will rise, the private sector will be starved of cash and unemployment will be on the increase. So, I expected the Minister to explain and have the figures add up, unless my accounting knowledge failed me on this. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, expanding infrastructure capacity to facilitate investment and spur faster economic growth is a welcome move which must be fully supported. At one point, I mentioned, when I was contributing to the Supplementary Budget for the year 2008/2009, that the Government should think more of raising more funds through the issue of infrastructure bonds. When that came up in this Budget, it is a welcome move. However, by factoring in Kshs33.6 billion to be raised from sovereign bonds, I consider that doubtful, given the circumstances under which we operate. The credit rating of Kenya has gone down after post- election violence and to source for those funds might be an uphill task. So, instead of being too ambitious, I expected the Minister to be a bit rational and have amounts that can easily be sourced. 1384 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 25, 2008 Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, as the Minister rightly pointed out, one of the main priorities of the Grand Coalition Government is to promote regional development and reduce poverty levels. That can be done by reducing regional imbalances. However, if you look at the Budget Estimates - and I will give an example of the Ministry of Roads - it is very clear that some regions are favoured at the expense of others. I will cite Central Province and the wider Mt. Kenya region. One cannot clearly explain how Central Province has been allocated Kshs5,352,985,000 and yet, Coast Province only received Kshs355,015,000. That is unfair. As a matter of fact, the amount of Kshs2,230,015 allocated to Kirinyaga and Nyandarua North districts is more than the total allocation---"
}