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"speaker_name": "Mr. Salat",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this year's Budget Speech by the Minister for Finance. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the outset, I would like to thank the taxpayers for having contributed their part in paying their taxes so that these taxes can be used to alleviate poverty and improve people's lifestyles. Since we came to this House, the tax bracket has continued to increase and, as such, a lot is expected from the Government. The money that is being collected is supposed to be put to good use and that is making sure that funds are allocated to areas where they are needed most. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to talk about the empowerment of the youth of this country, as contained in the Minister's Budget Speech. The youth of this country have been a forgotten lot. The youth also include the marginalised young women and men of this country. Their population is so high but their contribution to the national development has been very minimal. So, by the Minister allocating Kshs1 billion towards the empowerment of youth in this country is a welcome move. I hope and so is every Kenyan's hope that the Kshs1 billion will be used transparently. When we talk about the youth, we are not talking of youth from one region but Kenyan youth. So, I hope the management of these funds will go along way in improving the welfare of this marginalised group. If we continue empowering the youth in terms of creating employment and improving their skills, this country will develop rapidly but as long as we are going to ignore them, nothing will be achieved. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I appeal to the Minister that when he actually comes up with the concept of how these funds are going to be distributed, I hope that it is going to be transparent because we expect that these funds will be felt everywhere including my constituency where there are a lot of idle youth. I am appealing to the Government to encourage the youth and I thank the Minister for this incentive. I would like to request that we continue allocating money for the youth in every Budget so that they are empowered. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of the Kshs400 million that the Minister set aside for resettling victims of land clashes or people who have been evicted from forest land, if the Government had realised that there was a large number of displaced people and had set aside funds to resettle them, especially those at the Mau Forest, the issue of squatters would have been a forgotten story. Since this is the first time that such an amount of money is being put aside for this purpose, I would like to urge the Government to continue setting aside such funds so that there is hope, and so that displaced people know that the Government has their welfare at heart. I have always said that the way the Government carried out the evictions was very inhuman to the extent that those evicted felt like they were not Kenyans. I would like to urge the Government to increase June 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1713 the amount of money required to resettle those people. If the Government feels that there are some people who are settled on areas that they consider to be catchment areas, the best they can do is to buy out those people so that we can preserve what we consider to be catchment areas. Therefore, this allocation should be put in future Budgets because the problem is not specific to the Mau Forest area. We have problems of squatters all over the country. We cannot say this amount of money is sufficient. However, if the Government can tell Kenyans that this is just but the beginning, Kenyans will know that there is hope. This money should not be used selectively, but it should be distributed evenly. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), the hon. Member who spoke before me talked about the issue of bursary funds falling at the constituency level. The issue of students lacking fees and relying on bursary funds is worrying. The Minister needed to make sure that the 3.0 per cent that we allocate from the CDF is increased. The Minister said that he has given an increase from 2.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent. In so doing, he said that the CDF will be in charge of giving bursaries to students. That is not enough. That is why this House has been pushing for the CDF to be increased to 7.5 per cent. That will enable us to cater for all the needs that our constituents have. The increase from 2.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent is not enough. So, I would like to urge the Minister to re-consider this because the CDF is mainly there to benefit Kenyans. Its purpose is to distribute the resources of this country evenly. What the CDF has done in the last three years cannot be compared to what has ever been done because Kenyans can see that their money is being used for their benefit. If the CDF is increased to 7.5 per cent, that will revolutionise development and change the way people think. That will revolutionise all the projects we want to undertake as hon. Members of Parliament. We should not resist the increase as a Government. We want to increase the CDF to 7.5 per cent for the benefit of this country. We should not be seen as if we are taking away power, we are only evenly distributing the resources that are meant to reach every corner of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, I spoke to the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ms. Karua. I have seen a different Martha from the one I knew before."
}