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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to emphasise that His Excellency the President has given his consent to this Motion. I presented the National Budget for the Financial Year 2008/2009 before this House on 12th June, 2008. During the presentation, and thereafter, I have received strong encouragement from my colleagues. Allow me, therefore, to thank hon. Members for the overwhelming support they have given to the Budget proposals contained in the Financial Statement. I also wish to thank Members of the public for the positive response to the same and the confidence with which they embraced the development agenda we have elaborated for our nation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also want to thank hon. Members for the completion of the debate on the Budget Speech this morning and for passing the same in my absence, which I regret. I would have liked to be here in person but I was caught up in other business in the office and my Assistant Minister is away on another business outside. We really did not expect that it would be completed this morning. Hence, I would like to apologize for such a big event happening in my absence. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the past, there have been concerns and varied opinions on our commitment to carry through our development plans and the extent to which they get implemented. I want to assure the House that this sceptical view is far from being correct and, for starters, the First Medium-Term Plan (FMTP) of our Vision 2030 has been founded on realistic issues that we need to focus on in order to achieve development in the following areas. I want to reiterate this as the basis of which we will be asking for all these monies. The first thing is the restoration of our economy to a higher broad-based growth rate path, again with expanded opportunities for all Kenyans. The second item that we are looking at is the creation of employment opportunities particularly for our youth and extending financial and other June 25, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1409 forms of assistance to encourage self-employment. Again, we went through a whole raft of measures on how to improve the economy in the Budget Speech and all that is included in the Estimates. The third item is the reduction of poverty by evenly accelerating development across the whole country in all the regions. The fourth is greater effort on our human resource development in order to enlarge our human resource base, again geared towards creating a reliable workforce through quality and appropriate education. Again, this is very clear with the investments we are making at the primary education level, the secondary education level and in terms of extensions to the tertiary colleges. Mr. Speaker, Sir, these are our areas of focus and I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm that the Government will not waiver from the economic path that we have charted for continued development of our country through the implementation of the plan we have formulated and the execution of the strategies that we have set in order to achieve our objectives. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Financial Statement that we made included the proposals on taxation and expenditure projections. These two components of our Budget will be dealt with by this House during the sessions of the Committee of Ways of Means and the Committee of Supply. However, before the commencement of the Committee of Supply, hon. Members will have had the opportunity and ample time to scrutinise the resource allocations in detail. In this regard, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do believe that hon. Members have already received their copies of the Estimates in terms of the big books of both the Recurrent and Development Expenditure for the Financial Year 2008/2009 and, indeed, also the Budget Strategy Paper that gives them the broader thinking on exactly what is captured. Mr. Speaker, Sir, during the debate on the Votes, Members will have the opportunity to interrogate the proposals and, again, with the added benefit of the individual Ministries being present to provide the necessary clarifications, this will then be followed by the Appropriation Bill which will give us the authority to spend all the funds as approved by this House. In the meantime, the country has to run. The law has provided for us a mechanism through which we can access 50 per cent of the funding pending the approval of the Appropriation Bill. This is the approval I am seeking from the House today. Mr. Speaker, Sir, successful completion of the Budget formulation is the first phase of the Budget process. The next challenge lies in the management and implementation of the Budget. Budget management and implementation gives substance to our plans and strategies. This function is, therefore, very crucial since it entails the provision of services and implementation of our development programmes and projects. Therefore, financial management, monitoring and evaluation will continue to be strengthened to ensure the smooth implementation of our programmes, projects and provision of efficient and effective services to Kenyans. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to assure the House that we will also continue to deepen the reforms that we have been undertaking and to strengthen our institutions by efficient service delivery and enhance both the economy and value for our money. These reforms will include budgetary as well as financial management reforms that do emphasise, among other aspects, all forms of accountability. In this regard, our Budget formulation and presentation are being reviewed and enhanced in order to re-orientate expenditures to outputs and outcomes instead of pegging our considerations on levels of allocations. Our audit will also have to be re-oriented to be based on outputs and outcomes instead of mere compliance to budgetary ceilings. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I, therefore, wish to inform the hon. Members that the Estimates that are indicated by Item level allocation and which are contained in the Schedules that we have supplied are, in fact, a breakdown of the programme of this Budget under which the Ministries, Departments and budgets have been formulated. The programmes indicate, among other things, the output and outcomes. We will soon be publishing and sharing with the House the programme-based budget 1410 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 25, 2008 listed by each Vote for the Financial Year 2008/2009, so that hon. Members can actually see what we are hoping to achieve as a result of this expenditure. Mr. Speaker, Sir, notwithstanding the above, as I earlier said, it is the procedure of the House to scrutinise, in detail, the estimates during the Committee of Supply. Therefore, with the leave of this esteemed House, I propose that I do not dwell in detail on the allocation of each Vote at this point. This, again, will be undertaken at an appropriate time. Mr. Speaker, Sir, for the Financial Year 2008/2009, the net Estimates of Recurrent Expenditure will amount to Kshs349,231,540,190 for which, for the time being, I am seeking approval of 50 per cent of that, which is Kshs174,615,770,095, while the net Estimates for Development Expenditure amount to Kshs143,636,955,490, out of which, again, I am, for the time being, seeking approval for Kshs71,818,477,745. Mr. Speaker, Sir, again, included in these Estimates, for purposes of emphasis, is funding for some very critical ongoing programmes and implementation of new projects. Some crucial programmes will include the development of expenditure infrastructure, enhancement of energy supply, including research and development of alternative sources of energy and development of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) subsector. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am pointing out this because it is important that we appreciate that, unless there is confirmation of availability of at least half the amount that this House will eventually have to approve, it will be very difficult to even float tenders for some of these projects. People want to look at what services we have that will give them money. That is why we are asking for the maximum that the Constitution allow us, which is 50 per cent. We want this approval to give us the confidence; that we have enough money to, at least, start the tendering process. We want to see some of these roads and power projects started. Indeed, we can even start moving the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) monies around the constituencies. We can commit on salaries for the foreseeable future. Indeed, we can even commit on mortgages knowing that, at least, we have some money available. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we also need these monies to meet some of our contractual obligations. Some of these contractual obligations are payable on a half-yearly basis. We actually need the entire amount of money that will be required to meet that half-year obligation. Anything short of that will mean that we will be falling out on some obligations that we have agreed to pay on some of the interest on our long-term bonds that we actually need to pay on half-yearly basis. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we also need this money for funding to cater for payments of salaries and wages, including all the other expenditures that are related to personnel emoluments. I also factored, within this, for example, the adjustment of salaries of the civil servants in Job Groups \"D\" and \"L\", police and security forces and payment of the allowances that were agreed upon. I need to have that comfort that, come July 1st, we not only have the approval, but also the funding available to commit into the foreseeable future, hoping that somewhere before October we will have passed the Appropriation Bill which will then release the balance of the money. Mr. Speaker, Sir, critically important again are monies for our free primary and secondary education. We need to have the certainty that we will have the bursaries and other expenditures which will need to spend between now and December. The commitments for that, as hon. Members are aware, end in August. At the beginning of September, we will need to be paying the third term fees which means that we actually need the entire second half. We need the first half of the Budget to be able to commit on school fees by the time we pay for the education of those children ahead of the approval of the Appropriation Bill which, traditionally, comes just around October if we are to allow for the maximum time for the discussion on the individual Votes. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as hon. Members are aware, the Government provides essential goods and services that cannot be interrupted without serious repercussions and distress to this nation. In fact, June 25, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1411 the matter is so serious that, come tomorrow, in the unlikely event that this will not have been concluded, we would actually not start the year 2008/2009 because absolutely there will be no money to run this country, including this House. That is how serious the matter is, and I believe that this House will rise to the occasion. Therefore, it is the fundamental consideration of provisions in the Vote on Account within the Constitution of Kenya. It is a Constitutional matter. The country is relying on the actions of the House, this afternoon, to determine whether we should move forward into the next financial year or the country closes business. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in this regard, I will also request the House to take cognisance of the fact that the Financial Year 2007/2008 will come to and end on 30th June this year. That is basically this weekend. We have to close all our books by 30th June, 2008 and not a single cent that is currently voted can be spent after the midnight of 30th June, 2008 and we now need this authority so that we can have new books opened and new monies spent come 1st July, 2008. Accordingly, our forefathers had a foresight and did provide within the constitution that we could draw funds from the Consolidated Fund for provision of services until the full authority has been granted through the Appropriation Act. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in accordance with Section 101 of our Constitution, the purpose of this Motion is to seek approval of the House to authorise the withdrawal, from the Consolidated Fund, of monies not exceeding one half of the total net sum included in the Printed Estimates of both Recurrent and Development Expenditures for the Financial Year 2008/2009. This will enable the Government to provide essential goods and services uninterrupted until the Appropriation Act, 2008/2009, is enacted by this House, hopefully towards the end of October, which will be in the last quarter of this year. This is a very crucial Motion that has its basis in a Constitutional provision. Therefore, I request hon. Members to approve it to enable the Government to access the funds required by the Ministries and Departments at the commencement of the next Financial Year 2008/2009 with effect from 1st July, 2008. Also it will enable the hon. Members to access the funds to be able to run the programmes within their constituencies through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). Also the House will access the money for its own running. So, it is important for all of us to have that in mind. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I look forward to the support of each and every hon. Member as we embark on our desired journey, which we appropriately captured within the Budget; to build a cohesive, equitable and prosperous Kenya. It is a straightforward and serious Motion, and I am sure hon. Members will treat it with seriousness and give it the attention it deserves. With those few remarks, I beg to move and kindly ask Mr. Mudavadi to second."
}