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"id": 245693,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Masanya",
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"legal_name": "Godfrey Okeri Masanya",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to join many of my colleagues, and the public at large, who have commended the Minister for presenting a well balanced Budget. First, I would like to say something about the youth. As we all know, the youth are the most frustrated group in the villages and market centres. They are involved in crime because they are idle. If the proposed Youth Enterprise Fund will be managed well, we will reduce the problems facing the youth in our country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, year in, year out, we approve the Budget to enable the Government render services to her citizens. Unfortunately, when it comes to implementation, we do not see anything tangible happening. Since I became an hon. Member, I have not seen any activities being undertaken in my constituency in terms of development apart from the CDF money 1696 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 28, 2006 which is managed by the various CDF committees. This is the only money which has produced some results and the common mwananchi has felt that there is something being done by the NARC Government. The CDF takes 2.5 per cent of Government revenue and 97.5 per cent is spent by the Government. We do not see anything being done by the 97.5 per cent which is retained by the Government apart from paying salaries and other things that mwananchi does not know. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Budget has also considered women. This is a very good thing because the burden of bringing up children has been left to women. If the money is channelled to the constituencies and managed properly, women will be relieved of this burden. Today, most of the youth are unemployed and feel frustrated. This has forced them to engage in drug abuse, theft and other forms of crime to earn a living. I would like to thank the Minister for allocating some money for the revival of youth polytechnics. Today, youth polytechnics do not have qualified teachers and instructors because the Government does not pay them. Many of the village polytechnics are being taken care of by the communities on a self-help basis. Wananchi contribute money to pay some of the instructors. The Minister should come up with proper guidelines on the utilization of these funds. They should not be used to pay the instructors who are employed by the communities. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Minister for excluding donor funds from the Budget. This money has frustrated this country very much. When the Minister is preparing the Budget, a lot of donor money is factored in with the expectation that there would be money from donors. However, the donors do not give us that money. This has made us dependent on donors. I am happy that the Minister has not factored in donor funding. We are going to depend on local resources to finance our Budget. This is a good thing for our independence because donor money never gets to us. For instance, about three years ago, we were promised that rural electrification for coffee factories was going to be funded under the French Phase II. To date, we have not heard anything about the French Phase II. I am sure that hon. Members have told their constituents about this programme. Next year, we will have another general election yet the donor has not given us that money for the electrification of coffee factories in the country. I, therefore, thank the Minister for excluding all the monies promised by the donors because it never gets to us. It is only mentioned and we have never seen it. The Minister said that he will raise some of the proceeds from the sale of the parastatals, like Telkom Kenya, National Bank of Kenya (NBK), the Kenya Re-insurance Company (Kenya Re) and others to finance the Budget deficit. These parastatals have been proposed for sale for many years. Even the former Government promised to sell them but they were never sold. Up to now, the Minister is banking on this to get money for running the Government. If they are not sold, where is he going to get the money to close this gap? I think the only option left for the Minister is to borrow from the domestic market. He will get money from local banks in terms of loans."
}