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{
    "id": 216718,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/216718/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 126,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "are using grenades here and there. Where did those grenades come from? Could the Government give a proper account of why we need grenades in this day and time? We are not fighting a war with anybody! Since that incident occurred, the Mungiki are now having access to grenades in this country. How can we have a Government that wants security in the country, and then make it possible for elements of insecurity to have access to small arms? That is because of inefficiency at the Port of Mombasa, which is both a threat to our security and a threat to our efficiency in revenue collection. I would have liked the Minister to really dwell on this issue, because no Government can present an item of expenditure to the National Assembly without having the other positive side of increasing revenue. That is why we have had the biggest deficit in the history of this Parliament, of Kshs104 billion. I am not quite sure whether the Government has satisfied this House on how it will raise that amount. If the Government will raise the Kshs104 billion through Treasury Bills and Bonds, this will begin an inflationary tendency in this country, which is already too much for the common man. At 14 per cent inflation, when that goes downstream up to the consumer at the retail shop, it becomes unbearable to the people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you only needed to talk to the ordinary wananchi on the streets of Nairobi after the Budget was read and analysed by newspapers in terms of buying wage goods in this country, to understand how anticipatory the traders and people in commerce and industry are becoming in terms of the on-coming inflation. Prices are already rising in anticipation of the inflation that is coming because of the deficit budgeting system that has been produced by this Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would not have minded if the Government wanted to go into debt. If the Government wants to invest heavily in infrastructure--- If the Government wanted to negotiate commercial debts internationally and invest that money in improving infrastructure in this country--- For example, in building a dual carriage way from Mombasa to Busia. That was a key prank in the NARC Manifesto in which I was very central. That was never done because of listening to the World Bank which made a very foolish argument. It said : \"Because of the amount of traffic on the road, we cannot build a dual carriage way. We want to wait until the traffic there---\" It has been proven historically that once you build a good road, the traffic will come because people will import cars to drive to Mombasa and Kisumu because they know there is a good road. But if there is no good road, you are crazy to import a car to drive from Mombasa to Kisumu! It is now understandable why people are trying to drive four-wheel drive cars and even Hummers. That is because the roads are so bad. Unless you have a Hummer, you cannot go to Kapsabet. To drive from Nakuru to Kisumu, you need a Hummer and a half! That is not good June 27, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2073 for the revenue of this country. In order to reduce the amount of money people spend on cars, it is important that we go into debt to improve infrastructure. But we do not go into debt to subsidize an inflationary Budget, which is not investing equally in infrastructure. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was astonished! It was established over two years ago--- In fact, when we came into the Government, we were told that, in order to revamp the rail- road system, we need Kshs101 billion. What does the Budget present us today? An amount of Kshs66 billion! That is almost less than half of what we need. Let us spend money effectively where it is going to make a difference. I call this Budget a Kalongolongo Budget! If you want to know what Kalongolongo means, look at the dictionary. A Kalongolongo Budget means you allocate little things here, little things there and pretend that you are cooking. But you are not cooking! That is what it means!"
}