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"id": 245261,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Okemo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 198,
"legal_name": "Chrysanthus Barnabas Okemo",
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"content": "I wish the Assistant Minister could listen to me, because whatever I am talking about here are very pertinent issues and we are expecting him to respond to them when he comes here. So, if we have a high regime with very high crude prices, today, where you look at the pump prices and you look at the price of diesel, kerosene and other products which are consumed by other Kenyans are very high, what is going to happen is that the inflationary pressures are going to continue. The Minister has not helped by taxing this particular product, which is consumed by everybody across the board. This is inflationary, and I cannot see how he is going to reduce the rate of inflation from 13 per cent to 5 per cent. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, under the same circumstances, we have also seen from his Budget Speech that the money supply is going to increase by 10 per cent. I would like the Minister to clarify how he is going to bring down the rate of inflation from 13 per cent to 5 per cent with the increase of money supply by 10 per cent, fuel prices going up, unpredictable weather conditions and an increase of fuel levy charge by Kshs3.20 per litre. If you look at the trend of the inflation rate in the last four years, it has actually been going up. It has risen from 8 per cent up to 13 per cent now. How is he now going to change that trend all of a sudden? He has to explain to this House, otherwise the foundation for his Budget may be doubtful. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, everybody who has talked here has paid a glowing tribute to the Government, saying that the rate of economic growth has gone up because we started with 0.6 per cent, rising to 3 per cent, 4.8 per cent and now it stands at 5.8 per cent. The Minister is even projecting a growth rate of 7 per cent in the medium-term. When you look at these projections, you ask yourself the question: With a growth rate of 5.8 per cent, what have we actually seen benefiting the ordinary Kenyans? Are they better off today than they were last year? June 29, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1747 The answer, of course, is no, because that growth rate has not gone into the poor man's pocket. It has gone into a few pockets which do not necessarily reflect the growth of the Kenyan economy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, that kind of growth is of very limited value to an ordinary Kenyan who today can hardly afford a meal. We know that about 56 per cent of Kenyans live below the poverty line. We also know that, that number of Kenyans has been increasing all the time. So, although we are talking about 5.8 per cent economic growth rate, the number of Kenyans who are getting poorer is increasing. We know that Kenya is one of the countries in the world with the highest uneven distribution of income. I am talking about the genie index, which shows how uneven the distribution of income is in a given society; where you have a small percentage of Kenyans controlling the majority of the wealth, and the majority of Kenyans owning a very small part of the wealth. That is, therefore, an unfair and unjust society, where economic growth rates of 5.8 per cent have very little meaning because they do not, really, benefit the people who are supposed to benefit. If you translate that 5.8 per cent growth rate per annum to per capita income, you will find that it is only 2.6 per cent. That is, really, the economic measure that is more important because it tells you how well off you are in terms of how much money is coming into your pocket. So, these are statistics which we sometimes try and use to support an argument which may not necessarily be factual. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to mention the fact that we have talked about taxing the farmer through the Sugar Development Levy. This is a subject I talk about very passionately because, after Sugar Development Levy is collected, it is given to the Kenya Sugar Board. When the Kenya Sugar Board receives this money, it decides unilaterally, without the farmer's input, where this money will go. The Kenya Sugar Board then channels that money to the milling companies, which decide what to do with it. In fact, what really ends up on the farmer's farm is very insignificant. Therefore, I would be very happy if the Sugar Development Levy were to be completely abolished. I can assure you that there would be no adverse impact to the farmer if the Sugar Development Levy were to be completely scrapped. The Sugar Development Levy is corruptly administered. The money does not go to the farmer. It benefits the farmer in no particular way. So, it is a levy that should not even exist, unless its collection and administration is streamlined. As it is today, it is just income to the Treasury which goes to the Kenya Sugar Board, whose officials misappropriate it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for instance, today, the Kenya Sugar Board has a huge multi-storey building somewhere in Lower Kabete, which was put up using billions of shillings. That is sugar-cane farmers' money. It is claimed that, that building is serving the sugar-cane farmer. Of what value is a multi-storey building in Lower Kabete, to the sugar-cane farmer? So, why have a levy that is going to be used to put up buildings to just create avenues for corruption for the chief executive of that organisation and, maybe, other people who are related to that institution? Therefore, when it comes to discussing the Finance Bill, we will propose to the Minister that the Sugar Development Levy must be abolished because it is of no value to sugar-cane farmers. I beg to support."
}