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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kamanda",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 221,
"legal_name": "Maina Kamanda",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me a chance to support the Budget Speech. First, I want to thank Kenyan taxpayers who have enabled this Government to do what it has done, especially with regard to providing services to Kenyans. They have supported the Budget through the taxes they pay to the Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister for Finance, in his Budget, underfunded my Ministry by Kshs6 billion. We had requested for Kshs9.5 billion, but we managed to get Kshs3.1 billion. That is a shortfall of more than Kshs6 billion. However, we are hoping that during the Supplementary Budget, perhaps, the Minister will consider allocating us some extra funds. As you know, my Ministry is a service Ministry. With that kind of shortfall, there are some areas that we will not be able to provide services. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are operating with a shortage of more than 3,000 employees in the Ministry. Unless the Minister for Finance considers allocating us more funds, we may not be able to provide proper services to Kenyans. So, I hope he will consider our case during the Supplementary Budget. We are also having a big shortfall in the area of reforms in football. You know that we have been having a lot of problems in this country as far as soccer is concerned. We had requested the Treasury to give us Kshs200 million so that we can develop some sports grounds and support the old stadia. However, in this Budget, the Minister has only given us Kshs10 million. That money cannot even to do two or three - maybe a maximum of four - community sports grounds. I do not know why for many years the Ministry of Finance has always somehow forgotten that this is a very important Ministry. All the time when they have been allocating money, they have not been friendly to this Ministry. I am, therefore, hoping that we will still go and request to get some extra money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act, this is an another very crucial area. You cannot have an Act and you are not given money to implement that Act. We have been pleading with the Ministry of Finance to give us money, and this particular year, we had requested for Kshs91 million. They have only given the Persons with Disabilities Act Kshs15 million. It is still inadequate. However, we have no big quarrel because we know that, as a Government, we will work together with the Minister and see whether he can adjust that allocation during the Supplementary Budget. Overall, I want to thank the Government, and in particular the Ministry of Roads and Public Works, particularly in Nairobi for the good work it has done for the people of Nairobi. If you move around the suburbs of Nairobi, you will see that for the four years that this Government has been in place, Nairobi is coming to shape. We are almost going back to where we were before. I want to thank the Ministry of Roads and Public Works and the Ministry for Local Government for beautifying Nairobi City. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to urge fellow hon. Members, we have a tendency that wherever we talk about issues that concern the Government, they ask for accountability on how the Government uses its money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have now been given a very heavy responsibility, as hon. Members, through the CDF. The CDF is another way that we have been empowered by the Government to distribute money to our constituencies. This money needs to be properly audited. I would like to inform the Minister for Finance that there is no need of giving money to very busy 2076 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 27, 2007 people. We are busy people. Sometimes, we need to have checks and balances on the use of this money. As we talk about the Government's accountability, we also need to know that we have been given a lot of responsibilities. A lot of money has been channelled through us, which needs to be audited. The auditors should first be posted to my constituency, so that I can lead by example and be left without blame. We should not, as hon. Members, ask for accountability in other areas, but when it comes to what we are doing, we do not seem to care. One hon. Member has proposed that the CDF should be increased to 10 per cent, but unless we put in place measures to ensure that there is accountability and the CDF is audited, I do not think there is any need to increase the CDF. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of insecurity should not be left to the Government alone. It should be a collective responsibility for all of us as hon. Members. We should go back to our constituencies and preach peace, talk to our people and ask them to live in peace. The Opposition should not think that it is the Government's responsibility to fight insecurity. It is true that there has been a lot of insecurity in Nairobi, but we would like to ask all the hon. Members, regardless of their party affiliations, to preach peace. During the last Parliament, we had clashes in Nairobi as a result of some leaders inciting people not to pay rent to their landlords. That caused a lot of chaos in this City. We sat together as leaders and ironed out that problem. Even in the current situation, we should not blame one another. This is a problem for all of us and we should handle it with a united front for the sake of our people in the City of Nairobi. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like the Ministry of Finance to consider giving an allocation to my Ministry. I have requests from almost all hon. Members of Parliament to uplift the standards of their community sports grounds in their constituencies, including where the Minister of Finance comes from. As I have said, the Kshs10 million is inadequate for that task. That is why I decided to seek these funds this year because my colleague Members of Parliament who are all my friends have been writing to me, to ask me to provide these funds and I have tried to assist them, but I am unable to do so. With those few remarks, I beg to support the Budget Speech."
}