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"id": 192943,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
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"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also rise to support the Budget Speech. This is truly a historic Budget, as the Minister for Finance said. It is the first Budget of the Grand Coalition Government. It comes at a time of momentous national recovery, after a period conflict, a period of turmoil and a period of political turbulence. Mr. Speaker, Sir, many Kenyans have very high expectations of this Budget. The Budget has received praise, which, in my view, is well deserved. By the theme of the Budget, I think the Minister captured the mood in the country. The theme of \"Working together to Build a Cohesive,Equitable and Prosperous Kenya\" is,in deed, an appropriate theme for the Budget this year. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Minister also, in addressing the priorities, captured the right priorities to restore growth and also promote cohesiveness in our society by addressing the problem of youth unemployment. He also addressed the problem of poverty and inequality in our nation, and the issue of developing the human resource in order to achieve prosperity for our nation. However, although it is a good and well intended Budget, the expectations by Kenyans are quiet high. In my view, this Budget fell short of expectations in five key areas. (i) In his attempt to address the plight of the youth, the Minister made a lot of efforts for which we must applaud him. However, the issue of youth unemployment was not adequately addressed. The measures proposed actually amount to tokenism, considering the problem facing the youth of this country. (ii) I was greatly disappointed to note that throughout the Budget, the Minister did not June 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1285 address the issue of squatters. In previous Budgets, this issue has been addressed. Funds have been set aside in previous Budgets. Billions of shillings were set aside for settlement of squatters. At a time when this country has the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), most of whom are squatters, and are being re-settled--- Some have nowhere to be re-settled, because they have never been settled in the first place. Since Independence they have been squatters. This is one aspect that the Minister failed to address, despite the high number of squatters in the country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Budget was also disappointing in terms of addressing the plight of farmers in this country. There was an attempt to address high cost of inputs and other problems facing farmers. But the problems were actually not adequately addressed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the fourth aspect was the plight of teachers in this country. Though we have talked of investing in our human resource, the plight of teachers was not adequately addressed. Finally, on the issue of the constitutional review process, the Minister made a lot of effort towards those reforms. He talked about a lot of reforms in different sectors. But there was a glaring omission in addressing the issue of constitutional review and other legal reforms that go with it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the issues affecting the youth, without a youth that is employed and satisfied, this nation can never and will never be stable. We all witnessed the violence after the elections. We all saw the role that the youth of this country played in the violence that hit this country. Unless something is done and done urgently to address those problems squarely, we will still have the same problem in future. What the Minister has suggested is a way of haphazardly dealing with the matter, making cosmetic changes to appeal to the youth of this nation, but he is not addressing the fundamental problem facing the youth of this country. You will find that due to lack of employment, the youth of this country are frustrated and angry. There is a state of hopelessness setting in. They are the members of the various militia groups. They have turned to different religious sects like Mungiki, the Chinkororo and the Sabaot Land Defence Forces (SLDF). All those are the youth of this nation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we need to come up with what has been lacking for a long time; which is lack of a clear and comprehensive national youth policy to address the problem. That is because many youths in this country feel that they have been given a raw deal! What they are hoping for is a new deal and this Budget falls short of that. Indeed, a few minutes ago, we heard of the recycling of Permanent Secretaries. It has been a hallmark of the NARC Government that experience has been the yardstick where the talent and energy of the youth of this nation has been sacrificed at the anvil of experience. We need to do something to create employment and give the youth hope again. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Minister has made some good suggestions in promoting sporting activities for the youth in this country. But what was offered - the Kshs500 million towards the Youth Enterprise Development Fund - is a drop in the ocean. Much more needs to be done and I support the suggestions that have been made that we need to have more funds injected, through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), for the youth. Those are the reforms that we would expect through the amendment of the CDF Act, so that a percentage is given to youth and women. It is clear, even from the Minister's Speech that, indeed, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund has failed to achieve its objective. Something needs to be done and done quickly! Mr. Speaker, Sir, we do support the idea of having a National Youth Council through which the youth of this country can be heard. That Bill is long overdue and something needs to be done and done urgently! There was a Motion in the previous Parliament which was brought by hon. Angwenyi on the employment of the youth of this country. That Motion was passed but nothing has been done! Recently, this House passed a Motion addressing the plight of farmers; proposing that this country writes off Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) loans owed by farmers in view of the post election violence. I was quite disappointed when there was no mention 1286 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 19, 2008 by the Minister about the issue of AFC and loans taken by the farmers. I mean loans that were taken in the previous planting season and the obvious losses suffered by farmers in this country where 3 million bags of maize were destroyed during the violence. Many of those farmers have not been able to access their farms due to insecurity. They have not been able to farm due to the high cost of inputs and yet, there was no mention, in the Budget, of how farmers who are burdened by loans can be given relief in terms of write-off of loans. I had expected the Minister to mention that, perhaps, there will be a Sessional Paper to restructure the AFC to address the plight of farmers, but nothing was mentioned! Indeed, Mr. Speaker, Sir, the problem of farmers is something that should have been given more focus and attention because of the impending global food crisis. Because of lack of special attention to this issue, we do feel that not much was done, in view of the crisis that is facing this nation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}