HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 233596,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/233596/?format=api",
"text_counter": 145,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Angwenyi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 326,
"legal_name": "Jimmy Nuru Ondieki Angwenyi",
"slug": "jimmy-angwenyi"
},
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, right from the outset, I would like to say that I support this Bill. However, I would like to point out that we are appropriating the resources of this country to provide goods and services to our people. Even as we do that, we must ensure that the small person down there who does not have shoes or a long trouser to put on benefits from the passage of this Appropriation Bill. We have been told over and over again that a lot of money has been looted from this country and it has been stashed away in foreign land. Every year, we appropriate in excess of Kshs5 billion for our National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS). What do they use this money for if they cannot identify where the money has been stashed and actually find ways of repatriating those funds back to this country? I would like the Minister for Finance to think seriously about this issue. Perhaps, he should reduce the appropriation for NSIS and allocate part of the funds, say, Kshs2 billion or Kshs2.5 billion for the employment of more teachers in our schools so that we can provide quality education to our children. Mr. Speaker, Sir, you can see from the Bill that we are appropriating a substantial amount of money to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and yet it does not respond when the image of this country is being damaged by both local people and foreign missions. Is it true, for example, that the amount of money being traded at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is drug money? Is it true that we have failed in our fight against corruption as has been stated by the USA and UK? Why can we not have a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? We pay them a lot of money as is evident in this Bill. I commend the Government for the steps it has taken in addressing the problem of floods in North Eastern Province and Coast Province. However, I would like to urge the Government to allocate more resources to the Ministry of State for Special Programmes so that they can even give seeds and fertiliser to the people of Kitutu Chache Constituency. We experienced drought last year and so we did not get proper seeds from what our farms produced. So, if the Government could 3880 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 22, 2006 address such a problem, we shall be very glad instead of letting people from Kitutu Chache, and Kisii in general, to wait for relief food. If we are given seeds and fertiliser in advance, we will not have to wait for relief food at the end of next year. We need to allocate more funds to priority Ministries. We are appropriating a substantial amount of money to defend this country and yet we still have a heavy flow of refugees entering this country with small arms. These arms are used to kill and maim Kenyans all over the country. Why can we not have our defence forces on our borders to make sure that whoever enters this country as a refugee is not armed? Why can we not deploy our forces to help in relief work whenever we are faced with such calamities? The Minister for Finance should be advised to prioritise the appropriation of national resources in support of the people of Kenya. My colleague, hon. Kipchumba, said that this is a rubber stamp Parliament. Although you advised otherwise, I still believe that this is a rubber stamp Parliament. Why am I saying so? When is the last time we appropriated funds from one Ministry to the other where we thought that it would be better applied? That has never happened in the history of this Parliament. When was the last time we reduced the amount of money appropriated for a particular Ministry to show dissatisfaction with their inability to work? We have never done so, as far as I can remember and I have been in this Parliament for ten years now. When was the last time we stopped completely appropriating funds to a Ministry which does not perform? We have never done that too. Today, we need more funds to improve our infrastructure. We need more funds for the development of our energy sector, communications, roads, water provision and so on, but we cannot even remove funds from one Ministry to another which we believe will make better use of the money in offering services to our people. If we had that power, we ought to have removed some funds from, say, the Treasury and give the same to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation so that the people of Machakos or Kitutu Chache can receive clean piped water. We surely can do that, but we have never tried it. It is upon us hon. Members of Parliament, instead of complaining the way I am doing, that we move with dispatch and make our presence felt as the watchdog of the taxpayers'money. The Government taxes our people and so we must influence how that money is utilised. We have never had a petition here like the one hon. Kipchumba was trying to explain. He said that we should develop a special programme for special areas. Take the example of Maasai Mara and Amboseli. Those natural resources of this country are being destroyed very fast. However, you cannot see in this Appropriation Bill any special funding to restore and preserve those natural resources of this country. Look at Lake Nakuru and Lake Elmentaita; those two lakes are disappearing! There is no special appropriation to cater for that imminent calamity and yet we earn so much money from those natural resources. There is no special appropriation in this Bill for the purpose of buying land somewhere in Kenya, perhaps, irrigate it and then move those people who are destroying forests and settle them in a humane way to that land that has been purchased by the Government. Hon. Prof. Maathai has been crying alone in the wilderness, but the Ministry of Finance has never listened to her cry. She cries for the beauty of our country. She cries for our fauna and flora, but there is no appropriation to attend to her stress and that of this country. Could the Minister for Finance, for a change try to consult widely in this Parliament and even beyond so that he can address some of the problems that are affecting our country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would have wished to see a special allocation to mop up small arms in our country. There is a proliferation of small arms in every corner of this country. Today, if you went to the deepest parts of Kisii, you will be attacked by thugs who have AK47 guns. Five years ago, you would not find AK47 guns anywhere in Kisiiland. Today, those guns are there in plenty. They are available in Amboseli and so many other places in this country."
}