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"id": 194542,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/194542/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Medical Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 185,
"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
"slug": "danson-mungatana"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to congratulate the Assistant Minister for Finance for moving this Bill. As he explained, the purpose of the Supplementary Appropriation Bill is to give out the statutory authority to Treasury to release funds to enable the Government to function. As Parliament, this is also our constitutional mandate. In exercise of that mandate, we have to scrutinize each and every proposed appropriation and expenditure. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the work has been made slightly easy. The explanations that the Assistant Minister has given are self-satisfactory. One of the things that he has mentioned is that there was an initial amount of Kshs62.3 billion that was proposed in terms of appropriation. In exercising prudent financial prioritization within the Treasury, he has now brought to us a mere Kshs22.46 billion for Parliament to approve. This is commendable because from the recent economic review that we all receive in our capacities as Ministers and also Members of Parliament, we are aware that the inflationary trends in the country have been going upwards. At the same time, we are aware that the capacity to collect, as projected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), has gone down. The Assistant Minister, in moving this Motion, has given us the reasons and constraints that the Treasury faced recently in terms of collection of revenue. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Assistant Minister has also brought to bear the fact of the rising prices of crude oil, contagious diseases and some of the constraints that he has faced in terms of revenue collection. So, for them to exercise prudence in a way that brought the initial requests from various Ministries; from Kshs62.3 billion down to Kshs22.6 billion. It behooves upon Parliament today to quickly pass this request from the Ministry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the risk of repeating some of the things the Assistant Minister has said, it is essential to emphasize the fact that there was absolutely a great need in expanding or acquiring additional expenditure because of the circumstances of the new Government that we have found ourselves in. As a result of the implementation of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act that we passed here in Parliament, we have created several Ministries. To some people these Ministries were just political offices that were created to satisfy certain quarters. However, when you look at the mandates of some of the new Ministries that have been created, you will agree with me that they are extremely essential for the proper functioning of the Government of Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the new Ministries out of eight additional Ministries that the Assistant Minister for Finance has said requires an authorization of additional expenditure is the Ministry of Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands. The new Ministry that has been created that will be in charge of development of the Northern Kenya region is an extremely essential Ministry. We all know that there has been a great neglect of that region. Despite the fact that it has been represented in Parliament continuously since Independence, we are aware that there is such inequality in terms of development and allocation of resources to the northern region of Kenya. The creation of that Ministry may be seen by some people to be one of the things that have been done just to please the National Accord or some office holders, but it is essential. It is required by the people of the northern region. Before the creation of this Ministry, the theory has been that all the line Ministries would be able to channel their resources effectively to the northern region and develop it equally. But that has not been the experience for last 40 years of Independence in this country. Therefore, the creation of that Ministry is extremely essential for purposes of service delivery to the people of northern region. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other Ministry that has been created is the 984 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 13, 2008 Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development. Every informed Kenyan knows that 60 per cent of the revenue that the Treasury collects in this country, through the KRA, comes from the Nairobi metropolis. It is very fair for the people who are creating that amount or percentage of revenue in this country to have a Ministry that will specifically look into ways and means of making sure that the production capability of this metropolis in Kenya is not hindered. Jokes have been made that the new Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development will be digging tunnels and doing that kind of work. But, indeed, we need those tunnels to be built for proper communication to happen in Nairobi City. A few months ago, we experienced a problem in the transport sector in Nairobi. Immediately there was a change of policy in terms of where the City matatus could drop and pick passengers. There was a big strike in the country that was occasioned because the matatu operators that, that rule was against them. People in Nairobi suffered because there was no alternative means of transport to reach Nairobi City. The people who create 60 per cent of the revenue that the Treasury collects were being left at home. They were being left to walk miles on end because there was no tunnel! There was no other means of transport that will bring them to work to continue with the production capabilities that they are supposed to have within this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what we are saying is that these Ministries that were created and that have occasioned additional expenditure, and I have just named two of them, they are extremely important to this Government. They are also extremely important for service delivery to the people of Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, of course, the Minister has explained about the officers who were deployed for purposes of dealing with the post-election crisis that we had in the country. We have incurred additional expenditure that was necessary to keep the country together. There is nobody who cannot see the justification for us to pay our people who sacrificed their time. While people were up and about, these officers were out there trying to stabilize our country. That was a job which was well done. We do not need to repeat the fact that there is every reason to motivate our security officers, particularly the police and the security officers who were called upon to quell the post-election violence. That is why there was a good reason for us to incur new and additional expenses as far as our security officers were concerned. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the agricultural situation in this country, we need to pass this Supplementary Appropriation Bill. The food situation in the country has become a big topic of discussion and something needs to be done. We have, as a Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, implemented some measures that would come to address some of the food deficit situation that we are facing. One of the things that has been done is to help farmers to start ploughing at a faster rate. There was this section of mechanisation that was almost dead. In some areas, the Government has had to quickly step into the process of crop ploughing and preparation in order to move it faster so that we may not face a dangerous situation of food scarcity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it has been necessary for the Ministry of Agriculture to incur supplementary or additional expenses in acquiring seeds and distributing them to the farmers. This is one way in which we, as a Government, are looking into controlling the situation so that we do not have a situation where hunger is spilling out of control. Therefore, there was absolute need of incurring additional expenses. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have the Ministry of Medical Services and the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, which were split from the Ministry of Health. These are extremely important Ministries! For example, we have to deal with the issues raised by the nurses. They have been agitating for increased emoluments in their various cadres. As a Ministry, we have been involved in the negotiations with the nurses and, obviously, we are going to incur additional expenses as we move towards settling some of the problems although not all of them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even when you look at other parts of the Government, May 13, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 985 like, for example, the Ministry which deals with prisons or correctional services; as a Government, we have had to make hard decisions that meant more additional expenditures to sort out the important grievances of our prison warders, who look after our prisons. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when you look at the bulk of what needs to be done in Government services, it is important for us to support the Minister for Finance, as a Government, and give him full authority, especially given the fact that even the initial request had been reduced downwards to try and be sensitive to the current situation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, looking at the requests that have been made and looking at the current situations that prevail in the country, it will be in order for Parliament to quickly approve the Supplementary Appropriation Bill in the same spirit we approved the Procedural Motion to reduce the number of days for publication of the Bill. We should unanimously support this Bill and give the Ministries quick authority to spend. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, questions have been raised that we have a huge Government right now. Questions are being raised: When will this Government start functioning? When are we going to start feeling Ministers doing what they need to do? When are we going to see them providing the services? When are we going to see the fruits of the Grand Coalition? The best of the best of this country have now come together from all major political parties. I believe that the best of the best, through the process of the delicate balancing of portfolios that was there have now joined the Government. It is important for us now to quickly approve this Motion so that services can be seen by the people to be provided, and quickly, at that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you have heard of the expression: \"Hitting the ground running\". We are coming from a very difficult situation. God has helped this country and we have recovered. But the people of Kenya still want to feel these services, and it is only through passing this Bill as fast as we can that we will be able to give the services the Kenyan people deserve. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is a great privilege for me to second this Bill and I beg to second. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}