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"speaker_name": "Mr. Okemo",
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"legal_name": "Chrysanthus Barnabas Okemo",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the question as to whether it has to be 50 per cent or any other percentage is a forgone conclusion because the Constitution has defined it for us. I think part of the constitutional review process was to look at that percentage. We should look very carefully whether it should really be 50 per cent or another percentage. But that is a different exercise. I was very encouraged to hear Mr. Nyachae's contribution. But, as another hon. Members said, I wish every Government Ministry was run in that fashion. We could have confidence to know that you can walk into a Minister's office and say: \"Look! Certain projects in my constituency have been ignored! Can you, please, take note and see whether you can revive them?\" Unfortunately, that is not the case. Mr. Nyachae, yours is a model Ministry. But it is not a typical model of how the Government runs. The problem we have here is that many of these budgets are skewed. They are skewed for different reasons, most of which are not objective. Most of them are for political considerations. You find that deserving areas which need to be taken into account are the same ones that are suffering. As Mr. M.Y. Haji said, when we had the aircraft disaster in Marsabit, we were all unanimous in saying that North Eastern Province need to be looked into. That is because it has been ignored. That was before the Budget figures were put together. Surely, something should have been done as an indication of goodwill to show that the Government is serious about Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what the Government must try to do is to have an equitable distribution of our meagre resources. The unfortunate thing is that our needs are much more than our resources. Therefore, we must have a criteria that portrays some element of fairness. That is why many hon. Members speak here with a lot of passion. There is no fairness! If one province gets Kshs4 billion and another one gets Kshs300 million, it is very difficult to justify in one's mind whether fair play was really taken into account. The Ministry of Water and Irrigation, which is under Mr. Katuku, is one Ministry that we usually scrutinise very carefully. Water problems are relevant to every part of Kenya. We must be fair. Every part of Kenya requires water. However, some parts of the country require more water than others. Therefore, they need to be allocated more money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, last year, and even this year, we applauded the Minister for Finance when he said: \"This time, we have put up a Budget without factoring in donor support!\" That is factually incorrect! That is not so! I do not want to use an un-parliamentary word, but let me say that, it is \"incorrect\". In both last year's Budget and this year's Budget, donor funding has been factored in. I think it is good for the Government to come out clean and tell the truth. There is a huge element called grants, which amount to Kshs28 billion. It is in this Budget. All that money is from donor support. We need to know about those grants so that, when we start bashing some of those donors, we will know whether to punch them with gloves or bare knuckles. The implications are far reaching. For example, last year, we did not get all the donor funds that had been factored in the Budget, although there were claims to the contrary. It created a budget problem. We had to borrow more than we had originally planned domestically. Mr. Minister, you have said that you are only going to borrow Kshs29.5 billion from the domestic market. Then, there is something there you are calling roll-overs. The two things mean exactly the same. One is a renewal. So, the total amount of domestic borrowing is not Kshs29.5 June 22, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1579 billion. The figure is almost Kshs80 billion. When you roll-over, you are actually renewing a loan. So, you are borrowing. It is only that you are doing it again. I think we should be clear, so that members of public are aware."
}