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"id": 216964,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/216964/?format=api",
"text_counter": 221,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mwancha",
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"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also want to take this opportunity to make my contribution towards this Financial Statement. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is a lot of talk going on, even in the villages about this Budget. What is coming out is that despite the fact that the Minister and Government are saying that the economy has actually improved, the trickle down effect is not getting to the common man. Just before the Budget, the price of a 50kg bag of cement was Kshs560. As we speak, after the 2108 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 27, 2007 Budget, the price of cement shot up to Kshs860. Similarly, half litre of paraffin was Kshs27, but after the Budget, it is now Kshs57. The same can be said of the price of sugar and soap. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we appreciate what the Government is doing to collect taxes, and ensure that there is development in the country. However, it appears that there are unscrupulous businessmen, who are taking advantage of the tax increases and levying excessive taxes, which is punishing the common man. It is upon the Government to ensure that the increase in prices of all the necessary commodities, of all the basic items reflects only that increase necessitated by tax. Otherwise, it appears that the common man is not happy with this Budget, although I can hear many people, including many Members of Parliament, saying it was a good Budget. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government must ensure that it puts in place systems to check all those unscrupulous businessmen who are exploiting the common man. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we speak, this is the second Budget with the Item of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. Up to today, the youth have not got the funds. There is something grossly wrong. Could the Minister in charge put all systems in place to ensure that the youth get these funds, otherwise they are already giving up. They are thinking they were being taken for a ride by the Government. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I laud the fact that the Government set aside funds for the women. That, definitely, is laudable. However, we would like to urge the Government to ensure that, taking the experience from the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, the funds for the women do not take as much time as it has taken for the youth funds to be released. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, most of the people talking about youth funds, including the Ministers, and all are men, are forgetting the creation of a Men Enterprise Fund. We hope that in the next Budget there is going to be a Men Enterprise Fund, so that the male folk do not feel that they have been left out. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there was a provision for increase in the number of teachers. That is laudable. We urge the Government to move expeditiously to ensure that the teachers are employed. The problem in our schools now is over-enrolment. I have schools in my constituency with classes of up to about 70 or 80 pupils. So, an increase in the number of teachers is laudable, and we hope that this will be done as soon as is possible. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the free tuition in secondary schools, that is a good move by the Government. But small economies like Rwanda and Uganda, which have been at war for many years, are now giving free primary and secondary education. We hope that Government, in the near future, will actually eliminate payment of secondary school fees, at least, for the day schools, so that all those pupils who go through Standard One to Eight can continue to secondary school without fear of expulsion due to lack of fees. Otherwise, it is a good move by the Government; it is laudable and we hope that the Government will be able to give more. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on roads, the Minister was saying that we stand here and keep on criticising. As we go round the country-side, there is a lot of road construction that is going on. But I would to remind the Minister that there are certain roads that have actually collapsed completely. So, as they are repairing those roads, they could ensure that there is some patch-up repairs, so that the roads are passable. Otherwise, I can quote many road works that are going on. I personally think that there is need to laud Government on that move. What is worrying me is that the money that goes to the rural access roads within the districts, in some of our areas, because of the heavy rainfall and the heavy loam soil, the little murram that is put on the roads is washed away. Unfortunately, there is supposed to be compaction of the murram, so that it is not easily washed away. I hope that in future, each district, or constituency, will get a means of compacting that murram, so that it lasts longer. This could be okay in the dry areas, but in the high rainfall areas, I am fearing that pretty soon, we may be going June 27, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2109 very far to get murram for repairing our roads, and that is, indeed, very worrying. In agriculture, the Government has done something about cotton. The Bill came to the House and the sub-sector, I think, has been given attention. There is attention to the sugar and maize sub-sectors. The farmers are being paid. This is good for the Government. But there is still a big problem with tea. The prices paid and the conditions of the farmers--- They have to wait in tea buying centres for leaf carriers to come and pick up the tea until very late. The Ministry needs to work out a system, along with the agency, to ensure that whenever mothers deliver the tea at the tea buying centres, ownership of the tea can change. Otherwise, as it is, the farmers have to stay there until midnight. They are told the leaf carriers will not come, the road is bad or the vehicles are spoilt, or something like that, and they have to come back the following morning to ensure that their tea is weighed. That is not good and there is need to change the system. An hon. Member said that forests are being depleted because of the use of firewood in tea factories. Those are the costs that go into the processing of tea leaves, thus making the farmers not to benefit. We are requesting the Minister for Finance to treat tea factories as duty free zones. He should treat them like some kind of Export Processing Zones (EPZs). After all, tea is mainly exported and very little is used locally. That way, taxes levied on inputs and machinery can be lowered to benefit the farmers. As it is now, farmers are feeling extremely cheated by using their land to cultivate the tea crop. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on insecurity, the Government is doing a lot. We can see what is being done. But my worry is: As much as we need policemen to patrol our villages and towns at night, there are very many of them on the roadblocks dealing with traffic. It appears that the only secure item in this country is the vehicle, and not human beings!"
}