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"speaker_name": "Mr. Sungu",
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"legal_name": "Gor Eric Sungu",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also want to make a few comments on this Budget debate. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, some British statesman once said there are lies, damn lies and June 19, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1877 statistics. In other words, statistics do lie. I wish to take issue with the Minister with regard to his statistics on poverty level in Nyanza particularly. He says that the poverty levels in Nyanza has gone down. In real and absolute terms, this is not true, as we know it, because we come from the ground. In fact, they are poorer than even at Independence. The ever increasing gap between the poor and the rich in this country concerns me. The Minister has not taken any step whatsoever to try and reduce this gap. Instead, we see measures meant to increase that gap between the rich and the poor. The single worst failure of this Government, and I am a member of this Government, is the billions that have been lost from the public coffers through Goldenberg and Anglo-Leasing and other such scams. History will judge us very harshly, as a Parliament, as a people, as leaders and as a Government, because there is nowhere on earth where somebody can rip, pillage, rob and take at will from the public coffers and go away scot-free. The other day, I was most disappointed to read a statement from the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission that we will never be able to recover that money. If these people go unpunished, it means there is going to be a tendency to encourage such thefts because people will know they can get away with it. Crime must be punished, because if it is not punished, there is encouragement to continue with it. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Budget has ceased to become a policy document, and it talks about promises that the Government has made. I hope that this Government intends, and has the will and the capacity, to keep those promises. For example, talking about the infrastructure, I said the other day in this House that in the western part of this country and, in fact, in most parts of this country, there are actually no roads. I do not remember a time ever in this country when roads were so bad. We know for certain that some of these roads are being funded by foreign donors. The money has been given to the Government, yet the procurement procedures are taking so long. Our roads have become impassable. It used to take four hours to get to Kisumu through Nakuru. Right now, it will take you eight hours. Some of the buses have now taken to going through Narok. This is unbelievable in a country which only about five years ago, used to have better roads. This is why we want to ask our leaders to travel down in the country using their own transport on the ground, so that they can see for themselves rather than use aircraft, which we have not even known how to manufacture. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I notice that there is going to be some increased emphasis on agriculture. I want to say that, in fact, let us look at our situation as it is. It has been shown that rainfall patterns in this country are unpredictable. It is now necessary to focus on irrigation as a means of increasing agricultural production. A good example is where I come from, the Kano Plains. Only a small portion, roughly speaking, about 2 per cent of the Kano Plains, is now irrigated through the Ahero Irrigation Project. If only we could put more of that land under irrigation, we will never need to import rice or any of these products that we are importing at the moment. It is common knowledge that with the kind of heat that we have, we have more production if water is available. On the issue of security, I want to say that despite the fact that we are craving for modern equipment - it is laudable to increase the number of policemen and provide them with better housing but I do not believe this will provide a panacea for addressing insecurity in this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must address some of the social inequalities that exist in our society to be able to solve these problems forever. We must improve the livelihoods of our people. We must also reduce poverty. We must provide jobs and we must give our people equal opportunities. We must give the people some hope. It is not good for you to have three meals a day when your neighbour is not able to feed his children. This person will rob you. Therefore, it is important that this Government considers actual measures to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. When doing so, we must also address the issue of regional equity. We have the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) which attempts to address the regional equity. However, 1878 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 19, 2007 it consists only of 2.5 per cent of ordinary Government revenue. This means the other 97.5 per cent of our revenue is still unaccounted for. This must also be looked at in terms of regional equity. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, soon we will be debating the question of taxes when the tax proposals are tabled before the House. However, I want to take issue with the Minister for exempting the Sugar Development Levy (SDL) on imported industrial sugar. This action amounts to actually discriminating against local producers. There is no country in this world which does not protect its own industries. What rationale is there to remove duty which, in fact, is revenue to the Government from imported industrial sugar when our sugar still attracts that same duty? This amounts to discrimination against our local producers. I am discouraged. I wish to say that when the tax proposals are brought before the House, those of us from the sugar producing areas, shall vehemently oppose it. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with respect to the Minister's spirited defence of the deficit financing and as somebody who studied economics a long time back in the 1970s at the University of Nairobi, I know the deficit in financing encourages inflation. No wonder inflation rates in Kenya are now in the double digit rate. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the matter of trying to increase the capital base of insurance companies and banks will tend to lead to monopoly situations. This may not be good for the country because we need to discourage monopolies. The fewer the firms that operate in the economy, the worse for us in terms of those who want to consume these services that they provide. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also would like to say that the implementation rate of Government projects is very poor, indeed. On 30th June, many Ministries will be returning money to the Treasury. This is a shame. We need to have this country developed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in my own case, I have a bridge project which is under construction, but the kind of procurement procedures that are involved, I can see a situation whereby the money which has already been given to the District Treasury being returned to the Treasury. This will result in delays and this project might not be completed. That kind of thing is not acceptable to us. We want to ask this Government to ensure that when projects are approved, they are implemented quickly so that people can enjoy their benefits. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}