HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 246180,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/246180/?format=api",
"text_counter": 247,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kenneth",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Finance",
"speaker": {
"id": 167,
"legal_name": "Peter Kenneth",
"slug": "peter-kenneth"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I, first, want to thank the hon. Members for the manner in which we have been able to exchange our views when debating this Motion which is a request to the House to allow the Government to spend 50 per cent of the Estimates. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, from the very outset, Kshs126 billion is going to be used on Recurrent Expenditure and Kshs45 billion is going to be used on Development Expenditure. A few things have been said by hon. Members and I felt that in replying, I needed to go through what has been said. The hon. Muturi, in his contribution, said that the Ministry of Water had been allocated less money than the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS). I wish to state here that, that is not correct. If you look at the combined Vote of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation it is Kshs7.4 billion and we have Appropriation-in-Aid of Kshs4.2 billion making the Ministry of Water and Irrigation have a budget of Kshs11.6 billion. In remarks that were made by the Shadow Minister for Finance, he complained a lot about the existing infrastructure in North Eastern. This was followed by comments made by the Member for Ijara, hon. Y.M. Haji about neglect in the ASAL areas. I would have wanted to make my remarks in the presence of hon. Y. M. Haji because he was a Minister in the previous Government. He was a long-standing Provincial Commissioner (PC) too and he knows for sure that among the areas where ASAL districts have been given money is not only in the water sector. The Minister for Roads and Public Works said that there is a road being constructed from Isiolo and that has been factored in this Budget. There is money which has been factored in this Budget to construct a road in North Eastern Province. It is not only with regard to water that ASAL areas have been looked into. We have forgotten that the Free Primary Education Programme in the ASAL areas also covers boarding facilities in those areas. During the drought, we were able to provide money for hay for livestock support. We have also now been able to operationalise the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) which is supposed to benefit livestock keepers most of who come from the ASAL areas. There is the issue of integrated systems. I must say that, that is on schedule. It is in our programme and, in years to come, an integrated information system will be in place. I appreciated what the Members said about the decentralisation that has taken place. For example, the Ministry in charge of special programmes has its own Vote and so does that one of Immigration and Registration of Persons. This will continue to enhance accountability when each line Ministry is able to account for itself. One other thing that has arisen in the Budget and was completely misunderstood is the donor factor. The Minister said that he had not factored any donor support in the Budget. That is the true position. What we have is Appropriations-in-Aid for existing projects in the country. If you June 22, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1589 look at the Narok-Mai Mahiu Road, we have provided our own portion. The rest of the money is coming from AFD. If you look at the Dundori Road, we have only factored the amount of money GoK is supposed to give. The rest is Appropriations-in-Aid. This includes the road hon. Nyachae spoke about from Isiolo via Merille to Moyale. I am saying this because in terms of budgetary support we did not factor any donor support. That is for a fact. A lot has been spoken about luxury in the Ministries. It has been said that the Ministries are the highest spenders. With the new transport policy, such luxury will be something of the past. When the hon. Ojaamong spoke, he spoke about injury time. He was referring to this Government side of the House. I wondered whether he was in the same House because if there is injury time, it is for everybody including hon. Ojaamong or hon. Moi seated opposite me. He forgot to look at what NARC has done so far. Earlier today, the list of all rural electrification projects in western Kenya was laid on the Table of the House and hon. Ojaamong did not stand up to speak. That means that he was satisfied with the work of this Government. Hon. Okemo raised an issue on the Floor of this House. I want to state clearly that he once oversaw the Treasury for a couple of years. If there is anything I ever learnt from him, then it is how to roll over domestic borrowing. He is the one who borrowed the most during his time as Minister for Finance. However, as a matter of fact, the actual internal domestic borrowing remains at Kshs29 billion. It is good for us to be factual about this matter. The Minister was clear in his Speech that should we even realign ourselves with donors and money came in, domestic borrowing would automatically come down. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, a few remarks made on the Floor of the House were not factual and correct. It is good that when we say something on the Floor of the House, we are actually factual. Mr. Billow, the Shadow Minister for Finance, alluded to the fact that the Permanent Secretary, Office of the President, had been sacked at one time or another. That is incorrect. I want to appeal to the Chair that rather than us spoil names of public servants on the Floor of the House where they have no defence, where an hon. Member is proved wrong, he must come back to the Floor of the House and apologise to the House for misleading it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I want to thank all hon. Members for supporting the Motion. I beg to Move."
}