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"id": 245932,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/245932/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Owino",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me to add my voice to what hon. Members have said in this House on this Budget Speech. First and foremost, I want to thank the Minister for giving us a fairly balanced Budget. However, I have a few points to make on expenditures. The Minister gave us a figure of Kshs461 billion as the total amount of money available for both Recurrent and Development Expenditure. He said that over Kshs300 billion will go to Recurrent Expenditure, leaving only about Kshs120 billion for Development Expenditure. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the measures the Minister has taken is to reduce the number of Government vehicles on our roads. If you remember very well, hon. Nyachae, when he was the Chief Secretary, tried to do that, but he failed. He even came up with the idea of 1632 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 27, 2006 introducing green and blue number plates which, in my view, has also failed. This is because those vehicles have been running up and down everywhere. I also believe that the Minister will not save much from pulling out Government vehicles from our roads because the way he will administer this is not clear to us. This is just some form of window-dressing because last year, the then Minister for Finance said that the number of vehicles used by Government officers and Ministers will go down, but that was never done. I believe that even this time round, it will not go down. Even the allowances the Minister is going to give, instead of those vehicles, in my view, will cost us more than taking care of those vehicles if they were to be used prudently. I also believe that the amount of money provided for in the Budget every year has never been seen on the ground. The only thing that we have seen working on the ground is the money from the CDF which we, hon. Members of Parliament, have been using to start and complete small projects. The rest of the money left to the central Government for development, I do not know what it is used for. Just like hon. Oparanya said, if money is allocated in the Budget for the construction of roads in an area, say, Kshs50 million, and that money is not used during that financial year, where does it go? We never see what that money is used for! I do not know if my colleagues see any development carried out in their constituencies using that money that has been provided for in the Budget. Several projects have been provided for in the Budget, but I have never seen, in my constituency, where that money that has been budgeted for is used to complete, for example, a water project. We would want the Minister to tell us what exactly happens to that money because it is never used to do anything that can be seen. I am sure that even in his own constituency, he will not be able to tell his constituents how much money has been used on a certain project. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to banking, the Minister was very kind to tell us that there will be new banking facilities for the poor people of Kenya. Whereas that is a prudent idea, the Minister should come out clearly and tell us what kind of products will be given to the poor people. It is not only the Muslims that are cut off from the conventional banking services. Even many poor Kenyans are not able to access finances because of outdated policies and requirements of the conventional banking systems in this country. I was once a bank manager and I know that we have very many enterprising Kenyans, as much as they are poor, but because of those outdated requirements, many of them are not able to access money. For example, a requirement like a balance sheet; a poor woman who runs a small kiosk will not be able to understand what that is. She will not be able to know what a financial statement means. So, what the Minister should do, as a matter of urgency, is to bring the Micro- Finance Bill, so that micro-finance institutions have a legal standing from which they can assist the poor people to get money. That has taken the Government too long."
}