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"id": 233580,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Billow",
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"legal_name": "Billow Adan Kerrow",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The Minister who was seconding the Bill took his time to perhaps glorify the scorecard of a defunct political party. However, let me concentrate on the issues that the actual Minister raised when he moved the Bill. 3874 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 22, 2006 The Minister mentioned that the economy has done very well. There is no doubt that the economic growth of 5.8 per cent, which was registered last year and hopefully this year, is remarkable. The question that most of us and many Kenyans have raised is not about the fact that there is no growth in the economy. Growth in an economy simply means the economic output of a nation. What is important is how to translate that output into economic development of the nation. Economic development means employment. Is unemployment increasing or going down? We have a situation where, in spite of that growth, unemployment, poverty and inequality are going up. We have a situation where in spite of the economic growth registered by this Government, all indicators of economic development show that we are actually going backwards in terms of our human development. That is shown by facts which have been presented by many studies, including the Human Development Index which is produced by the United Nations every year. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this then means that there is something wrong with our economic policy. We need to re-orient our economic policies towards growth, not just growth in any sector, but growth in those sectors of the economy that will benefit or improve the lives of the majority of Kenyans. What this Minister needs to understand is that he has contributed more than anyone else, to the fact that the livelihoods of Kenyans are getting worse. I will give an example to demonstrate that. When he read the Budget this year, he increased the fuel levy by Kshs3.20. We argued here at that time; that, this would have an inflationary effect on the economy. The inflationary effect hurts the ordinary people. At that time, the inflation rate was around 7 to 8 per cent. Today, he should have the courage to tell us that it is at 16 per cent, in barely four months after he read the Budget. That means that whoever was paying Kshs20 for matatu fare is now paying double that amount. That is an effect that all Kenyans have felt. Prices of basic essentials and--- The percentages of overall inflation are produced by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). Overall inflation indexes include basic commodities. These include things like power, transportation and telecommunications. All those sectors are included in the measure of inflation and we are told that it is going up. That is because our policies are not sensitive to the needs of the majority. They are sensitive to the needs of a few people, the elite and a few sectors of the economy. That will not help this country. We can talk about how much money we have collected, because revenue has to grow. That way, we are helping those people who produce. However, we are not helping majority of the people; the 30 million Kenyans who are struggling to make a living. I appreciate what the Minister said; that they have developed a vision. That is very important because we have been moving without a vision. We have raised this issue every time the Budget is read; that, we need to know where we are going in the next 20 or 30 years. I think it is remarkable that this Government is thinking about a vision. However, I think it is important that the process of developing a vision for this country be inclusive. You must respect the same institutions which you expect to implement that vision. You must respect them when you are creating, developing and initiating that process. I raised this on the Floor of this House, that when the Government came up with the 2030 vision, it did not even have the courtesy to invite us for the function. It did not have the courtesy to lay on the Table any documents here, to inform us what the vision was all about. We have just been reading about it in the Press. Economists have been writing articles telling us that it is a wonderful idea but we have not seen it. We would really appreciate that if anything, something like this which affects the lives of Kenyans and the economy of this country is shared with us so that we give our input. Hon. Members in this House represent 30 million Kenyans in this country. Do not belittle them. This institution is important. While we are talking about institutions, this Bill wants us to approve Kshs343 billion. That is not a small amount of money. To spend that amount of money and assist this Government, this House, in its wisdom has put up institutions which will act as a watchdog over the Government. That will provide an oversight role over this Government. One of these institutions is Parliament. November 22, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3875 There are many others which play a significant role in this process such as the Central Bank of Kenya, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Electoral Commission of Kenya. The institutions are many. The institutions for which the Minister is allocating millions of shillings are the same ones which this Government is fighting hard to undermine. If you undermine these institutions, how do you expect this House to trust that you will be accountable and transparent in the spending of that money? I want to give an example of this situation. These are public resources and the Minister has said that they will undertake, as a Government, to ensure that there is no misuse. When by-elections were held in July this year, the KNCHR issued a Report three months ago, which showed to which extent this Government went in terms of misusing public resources. The Commission recommended some specific amounts of money that this Government should recover from individuals who are serving in the Government and others who are not in the Government but misused State resources. So far, no action has been taken. If this Minister wants us to believe that he wants Kenyans out there---Kenyans are listening to you by the way. Ministers always forget that when they are addressing us, they are addressing Kenyans. If you want Kenyans to believe that you will take action, I think you should start by implementing the Report by the KNCHR, which says how much of the Budget money; the same one we approved in July, was misused in the recent by-elections. On the issue of the Budget, I appreciate that the Minister has outlined the need to make it more inclusive. In this regard, Parliament has taken action already, by coming up with a proposal for a Budget Office. We have set up a Committee and the House has a Fiscal Analysis and Appropriations Committee which when fully operational, will have the opportunity to go through, scrutinise the Budget and advise this House. The Fiscal Management Bill, which is what addresses the issue of Budget is very important. If the Minister wants us to believe that he is committed to prudent financial management, there is need to prioritise that Bill. The House Business Committee has a Government majority. We need to prioritise that Bill. That is one way in which this House can play a very effective role in the Budget. Otherwise, we will have a stumbling Budget in this House. There is nothing we can do if in one hour, we are required to approve Kshs343 billion for this Government to spend. One way in which we can be effective in scrutinising that is if we have the Bill passed and the Committee of the House plays a significant role. Another important point that needs to be addressed is the issue of Reports to this House. The law requires that you submit quarterly expenditure reports, on how you spend money. We have not been getting them. We do not have an opportunity to review how money in this House is being spent. We need to get them more timely and have the opportunity to scrutinise whether the expenditure is according to what we approved. I agree with him that there is need, and that this Government is trying to prioritise expenditure, particularly, sector-wise. I agree that sectors that never used to get enough money like the water, infrastructure, and energy are now getting money. There is need, not only to prioritise sector-wise, but also to address the issue of inequality in allocation of resources. That, more than anything else, so that when we create priorities, we create them regionally. You cannot prioritise expenditure for a region that requires no development and ignore a region which requires urgent development. Otherwise, your priorities do not make sense. That is very important. Do not only look at sectors, but look at the regions. There are areas in Coast, North Eastern and Eastern provinces which have been cut-off for a month because there are no roads. There is no communication in those areas, yet we are expected to sit here and approve billions. I think it is important that in terms of development, the Government looks at regions and that is a matter that we need to address. The Minister talked about reforms which are coming up. We need to appreciate them, particularly in the financial sector. The same Minister, yesterday, while answering the issue on pensions--- I appreciate that there is a Bill we passed but it was not practical. So, I think when we pass reforms here, we need commitment from the Government to implement them. If there is no 3876 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 22, 2006 political will and commitment to implement Bills, we will pass them but they will not get implemented. That commitment has not been demonstrated, even at governance level. That is why even at constitutional making, we have not been able to go forward. On the issue of emergencies, there is a contingency fund that should address emergencies like the one we are now facing. From our own sources, we are getting to know that bureaucracy in Treasury is making it difficult for Ministries which are dealing with emergencies to access that money. This House has been voting over Kshs2 billion for emergencies every year and there is no greater emergency than the floods which are killing Kenyans today, making areas completely impassable. Kenyans are suffering. So, we have been seeing only the Red Cross and other institutions, but we have not been seeing the Government. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when we ask for military helicopters we are told they no longer fly. I have been told that Ministers have been using the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) helicopter, the only one that moves as the helicopter for this Government. There is need to invest that money for emergencies. The Treasury should make it less bureaucratic to access this kind of money when there is an emergency. That is why we voted this money. We should not allow Kenyans to suffer when there is money that has been voted by this House for emergency purposes. We have not heard the Minister announce that because of a certain emergency, the Treasury has released, for example, Kshs500 million to the Ministry of State for Special Programmes. We need to hear this from the Minister, not stories about how well the Government has performed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, lastly, I must address the issue of State enterprises. We are voting billions of shillings to State corporations which are operating today. However, there is the question of transparency on privatisation of State enterprises, which was a problem even in the past regimes. It is still a problem in this regime. We are getting stories everyday on this issue. In fact, let me give the latest example of Safaricom. It has suddenly been discovered that the Government of Kenya owns only 60 per cent and Vodafone owns only 35 per cent of Safaricom. We do not know who owns the other five per cent shares in Safaricom. What this Government is telling us is that they are not transparent. That company was set up by the Government of Kenya. We sold 40 per cent shareholding to a company called Vodafone. This is what Kenyans were told. If today that story changed, that information is available for verification in the dockets. The so-called Mobitel did not buy those shares from outer space, they bought the shares through a system in this country. The Government needs to be transparent in the same way the shares of KenGen were sold. We commend the Government in some of the privatisation programmes it has embarked on, particularly that of KenGen. The Government needs to be transparent. Kenyans need to know exactly what is happening. That is very important. The Minister for Finance is the custodian of State enterprises. That docket falls under his Ministry. This is a matter that is causing a lot of anxiety in the country. The Minister should tell us who the third shareholder in Safaricom is and how they acquired that shareholding. This is something that will help this country. Otherwise, the institutions that we have set up like the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) need to be empowered so that they can work. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support the Appropriation Bill."
}