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"content": "1572 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 22, 2006 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, last year, the Minister introduced a new financial statistical code in the Printed Estimates which made it very difficult for us to understand what was being presented in the Financial Estimates because large sums of money were being appropriated to what we call capital transfers. The requirements of the financial regulations are very clear; that Parliament is required to scrutinize itemized expenditure. \"Itemized\" means you must go and break down that expenditure so that we, as hon. Members, understand the nature of that expenditure and where it is going to be applied. Last year, we went through a lot of trouble to try and get the District Allocation Budget details so that we could understand the Printed Estimates. The same thing seems to have been repeated this year. That makes it very difficult for us to believe this Government when it says that it is committed to transparency. Why are they afraid of stating clearly what money they are allocating to Government Ministries? Why is it so difficult for the Minister for Finance to put things clearly? Why all this opacity around the Printed Estimates? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will give you examples to illustrate my point. In the Vote for the Ministry of Finance, if you go through the Printed Estimates, there is an allocation of Kshs20.5 billion in the Development Vote. That amount is referred to as \"Repayments on domestic debts taken over by the Government\". None of us here in Parliament understands which debts the Government is taking over that are valued at Kshs20.5 billion. Which financial institutions are involved? At the same time, in the same Vote, there is Kshs340 million in domestic loans to financial institutions. Nobody knows which institutions the Government is giving loans to the tune of Kshs340 million. There is also Kshs260 million capital transfer to public financial institutions. We also do not know what that is. There are so many such items in the Printed Estimates. I can go on and on and on, yet we do not know where that money is going. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Government has given a pledge in every Budget Speech, including the last one, that they will not allocate money to State corporations because they have been guzzling a lot of money. In this year's Budget, we are being told that Kshs20.5 billion will be used as repayment on a domestic debt, while Kshs340 million will be used as domestic loans to financial institutions. These are all State corporations! Money is being given out in billions to State corporations. At the same time, we are being told that no money is being given to them. So, it becomes very difficult for us to understand this issue. The Government should come out clearly and make it easier for Kenyans and this House in particular to exercise its mandate, which is to scrutinize and approve expenditure. We cannot do that unless these expenditures are itemized. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me deal with the issue of inequality. Social economic indicators that have been produced by the Ministry of Planning and National Development in the last three to four years have clearly shown that there are wide regional inequalities in the allocation of resources, for example, maternal and child health, infant mortality rates, maternal deaths, enrolment rates in schools, roads, the ratio of doctors to patients, and so forth. When you look at all those statistics, there are wide disparities. The reason we are having all that inequality is because of uneven allocation of resources. In this year's Budget, this inequality has been made even worse because resources have been allocated on a basis that we cannot understand. I will give you an example of the Ministry of Roads and Public Works. The region with the worst roads in this country is North Eastern Kenya, including the whole of upper Eastern Province. This Ministry has allocated less than Kshs300 million in this year's Budget to that region. Central Province has been allocated Kshs4 billion, while Rift Valley Province has also been allocated Kshs4 billion. When is this country going to develop? When shall we have equality in this country in terms of the level of development if we have these kinds of disparities in the allocation of resources? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, time and again, we read in the newspapers about corruption or the Artur kind of situation involving the Office of the President. The main obstacle to reforms in this June 22, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1573 country seems to be in that office. It is time that office was streamlined in terms of its operations. Much of the money being spent now, Kshs12.8 billion, goes to the Office of the President. If you are talking about security, that is the office in charge. I am happy that the Minister for Finance has clearly appointed separate Accounting Officers for the other Ministries, for example, the Ministry of Special Programmes, the Directorate of Personnel Management (DPM) and the Ministry of Immigration and Registration of Persons because, previously, the Permanent Secretary in charge of internal security was controlling Kshs40 billion for the entire Office of the President. He even used to purchase food for famine relief. It was easy to misappropriate money in the Office of the President. Everybody in the Civil Service fears that Ministry. If you place a call to any Government office and mention that you are calling from the Office of the President, the officer at the other end will develop cold feet. So, it was easy for the Office of the President to be allocated money so that it could be misappropriated. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is, indeed, going on even as we speak. The Permanent Secretary (PS) who is now running that Ministry was sacked about five years ago when the \"Dream Team\" was in office. He was sacked for embezzlement of public funds. Today, the same person is running that Ministry; looking after Kshs12.8 billion of public funds. Where are we headed? So, we need to do something to improve, in particular, the allocation of money to the Police Department. I am worried about it. The money for the Police Department still falls under the same PS. If we want to improve the security situation in this country, we should create an office for an Accounting Officer for the Vote of the Police Department, in the same way we have appointed Accounting Officers for other departments in the Office of the President, so that monies voted here can be applied for the purposes they are intended. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, lastly, I would like to deal with the issue of the Exchequer. We have been told that the disbursement of a lot of the money that we vote here delays. One thing that has been promised by this Government, in the last three Budget Speeches, is to improve on the integrated financial information. That system, which is computerised and which is funded by donors, has been on every Budget Speech from 2003. We want to know what happened to that system, so that we can get reports on public expenditure on time. The Constitution requires that this House receives quarterly expenditure reports. If you ask hon. Members of this House when they last received quarterly expenditure reports from this Government, they will tell you that they received such reports in 2004. This is because of the kind of system that the Treasury has. I think they need to improve on that one. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the last three Budget Speeches, we were also promised that there will be improved public expenditure tracking. There is need to improve the level of accountability in the Ministry of Finance so that, as Parliament, we can effectively do our oversight responsibility. I want to conclude by saying that, clearly, we want the Government continue with its operations. We do not want it to stop working. However, the Ministry of Finance, and the Government generally, need to do more in terms of accountability to this nation. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}