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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kosgey",
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"legal_name": "Henry Kiprono Kosgey",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for this opportunity to make a contribution to this Financial Statement for this year. The Minister did say that he has a balanced Budget. But I do not understand the meaning of a balanced Budget from the Minister's point of view. First, he has a deficit of over Kshs100 billion which he proposed to finance through 2078 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 27, 2007 privatisation and through local borrowing. That cannot be called a balanced Budget. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Kshs100 billion will have two effects: First, suppose you cannot realise the money from privatisation, where will the money come from? Secondly, if you try and raise the money through global borrowing, interest rates will go up and the local borrowers will not have access to credit. This has been a very contentious point for a very long time. The Government should not borrow from the local market. It should be a minimum. In this case, the Minister will say that he is only borrowing Kshs34 billion and regarding it as a small figure. That is not a small figure. We should have a situation where we do not have the Government going into the market and competing with borrowers or industrialists who want to borrow money. This is really an election Budget because the Minister wanted to show that he is financing certain programmes in certain areas. So, he had to make a bloated Budget and he has to borrow Kshs100 billion or sell Government assets. We know that, the Kshs100 billion will not be available and, therefore, those who are dancing saying that their roads will be done, at the end of the year those roads will not have been done because there will be no revenue. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk on agriculture because I, like most of us here, represent rural Kenya where the main industry is agriculture. In particular, I want to talk about the sugar sector. I represent - for those who may not know - sugar-cane growers within the Chemilil zone and my Constituency and the adjacent Aldai Constituency supply 65 per cent of the cane that is crashed in Chemilil. When the Minister allows certain manufacturers to import industrial sugar duty-free, that will have an impact on the local market. We know - and it has happened in the past - that, that industrial sugar actually finds its way into the local market, through whatever route. It is surprising that the Minister actually allowed this loophole. This loophole should be sealed forever. If there is a certain industrialist who imports sugar, he should actually pay duty like all the other importers and, later, make a claim, just the way Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds are claimed. However, at the moment, it is very frustrating to get VAT refunds from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). The Minister did say that the Government has allocated Kshs600 million every month for VAT refunds. However, this amount is not enough. We are told by the KRA that it has only Kshs300 million. At the moment, claiming VAT refunds from the KRA is almost an impossibility. I would like the Minister to simplify that process or exempt duty on those items that are used by local manufacturers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, roads are, really, the lifeline of the infrastructure of this country. Without infrastructure, there cannot be any development. Those of us who come from the western part of Kenya, including the Rift Valley, know that to travel from Nairobi to Kisumu or Eldoret is a nightmare and, yet, we are told that the condition of roads is improving in this country. Maybe, that applies only to Central Province. Those of us who come from the western part of Kenya know that the roads in Narok, Nakuru, Keiyo and many other places are in a pathetic state. The main artery of this country, Road A104, is completely dilapidated. It now takes us close to eight hours to travel to Eldoret by road, yet, we used to take four hours in 2002 to travel to the same destination. It is a pity that even the Eldoret International Airport that was operational was closed by the Minister, in order to punish us even more so that we can travel by this road. This is a pathetic situation that needs attention. Whereas we appreciate what is going on under the Rural Electrification Programme, the Government should ensure that three-phase electricity lines are supplied to trading centres, so that small industries can mushroom in those areas, including those doing welding, masonry, carpentry"
}