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"speaker_name": "Maj. Sugow",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Water and Irrigation",
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand here to support the Budget as presented by the Minister for Finance. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him for presenting a Budget that is geared towards the growth of this economy. This country has been experiencing economic growth for the last two years. This is commendable effort and the challenge to us, as a Government, is to ensure that we implement the Budget proposals. This Budget has been dismissed by some of our colleagues as being a populist Budget geared towards election campaigns, therefore, we can only disapprove them by implementing it. As the saying goes; proof of the pudding is in the eating. So, we have a challenge, as a Government, to implement this Budget. I believe it is a challenge we are up to and we will be successful. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to congratulate the Minister for allocating money to sectors that will really take this country forward. In the past, we had been allocating money haphazardly in areas where this country cannot attain any growth. I, therefore, thank the Minister for allocating more funds towards the Free Primary Education Programme, health, infrastructure and other such sectors. I would also like to congratulate the Minister for coming up with the Youth Fund. However, we need some sort of legislation and framework for managing this Fund. It is important that we put in place measures that will assist us to utilise this money effectively. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the first time in the history of this country, the Minister has decided to bring in a very important population in this country into the mainstream of the financial transactions or the economy of this country. That is the Muslim population. Some banks have been making attempts to introduce interest-free banking in this country. I would like to thank the Minister for recognising their efforts and for promising to bring some changes within the banking sector to encourage banks to go into interest-free business. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, all is not rosy. There are a few areas that we really need to look at. The environment is a very important aspect of our lives. If the price of kerosene can be adjusted downwards, it would really benefit the low income earners and help to conserve our environment. This is a challenge for us. Quite a number of our people depend on kerosene as a source of energy. Many people would probably opt to use kerosene instead of destroying our forests. We, therefore, need to look into this aspect in the future. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, many of our past governments have always given lip-service to the northern part of Kenya when it comes to the alocation for development. This Government has the goodwill to support northern Kenya in terms of development. However, past marginalisation is so great for any efforts that are being made now to be of any effect. 1758 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 29, 2006 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was looking forward to see the Minister bring more concrete proposals to this House to develop infrastructure in northern region of Kenya. Many hon. Members have talked about this issue very passionately, especially those who come from northern Kenya, regarding the infrastructure. We lost colleagues as a result of poor infrastructure in northern Kenya. That should have been a challenge to us to come up with more effective proposals. I expected billions of shillings to have been allocated for the road network in northern Kenya. I think it is still a challenge that we have not addressed effectively. I hope that the Minister will look into this issue and come up with better proposals, probably even in the Supplementary Estimates. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I come from an area where in the past development was just a dream. The people did not even know whether they were part of Kenya or not. Today, they realise that they are part and parcel of this country, thanks to the CDF. That is why everyone of us, whether in the Government or in the Opposition, as hon. Members, we are very passionate about this particular Fund. I, therefore, congratulate the Minister for having increased the kitty to the amount that he has suggested. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are refugees in this country and they pose problems for the local people. I come from an area where there are refugees and they are not well taken care of by the United Nations Human Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in terms of their welfare and energy provision. They are only provided 30 per cent of their energy requirements. They are not given sufficient food. They have encroached our environment to provide for themselves shelter and food by keeping livestock in a very limited environment. This has become a very big threat to the local community. I think it is important that, as a policy measure, the UN is approached to ensure that they take care of refugees fully. I would like to congratulate the Government for the re-opening of the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) recently. We have re-opened the Athi River depot but most of the holding grounds in this area have been grabbed. I do not see how the capacity of 1,000 animals can be achieved without any holding ground within that general area. I, therefore, foresee a problem in the near future. We can overcome this by opening up new abattoirs in livestock producing areas, as quickly as possible, as promised by the Head of State. We also suggest that the KMC, Mombasa, should be rehabilitated and re-opened as quickly as possible so that the ranches in the Coast Province can serve as holding grounds for this particular depot. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}