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"id": 246329,
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"speaker_name": "Prof. Oniang'o",
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"legal_name": "Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Budget Speech. As I have always said, it is only a speech since the taste of the budding is in the eating. I was away when the Budget was delivered this Year. I was in Nigeria attending a fertilizer summit for heads of states and Ministers. Kenya was not represented at the Ministerial and head of state levels. I took time, as a responsible leader, to write a letter to the Minister for Finance. I realised that this was going to be his inaugural speech, as the Minister for Finance. I wished him June 21, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1501 luck, and told him to address the issue of the ever increasing gap between the lowest and highest paid public servants. I did not know that he was going to be as innovative as he was. In fact, he targeted the very commodity which impoverishes many Kenyans. That is petroleum. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Nigeria I noted that fighting corruption pays. The Nigerian Government has a woman Finance Minister, who is very tough. She can tell you how much money they have returned from overseas, and how much savings they have made through fighting corruption. The Nigerian Government holds public and Press meetings to inform its citizens, through a consultative process, about proposed measures before the Budget is delivered. I would like to urge our Minister, who has one more Budget to deliver next year, to conduct a public consultative process that will involve Kenyans in Budget making. This is necessary because we cannot change the Budget once it is delivered. In that way, we will take care of the concerns of all Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am a mother and realise that all children must be taken care of. We must take care of those who are neglected. I want to compliment the Minister because he ventured into areas which have not hitherto been addressed. I also want to compliment him for tackling an issue that was of my concern. There are very many rich Kenyans who would like to assist disadvantaged children. It is good that there is a tax rebate on donations for charitable purposes. Another issue of concern is the amount of money spent on Ministers. They have very many cars and drivers. With a bloated Cabinet, this extravagance is becoming scandalous. I am happy to see that the Minister is addressing this issue. The Minister should remove the VAT on wheat. Kenyans eat chapatis as a matter of luxury. They eat bread as a matter of luxury too. I would have liked to see him lower the price of maize meal because that is our staple food. We have been talking of a \"pro-poor Budget\" and, in fact, many Kenyans hailed this one as a \"pro-poor Budget.\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me tell you something about urban poverty. My relatives live in slums and so I go there often. I have even done research in the Kibera and Korogocho slums. When it rains, you will not want to walk or drive there. There are two million people living in the slums of Nairobi. It is truly a sorry state. When you go out every morning, you see Kenyans walking to Industrial Area to look for jobs. These people cannot afford transport. Now, there will be more Kenyans walking to work. We are not going to have middle-class income earners in this country because all of them are now reeling in poverty due to the increase in the cost of fuel. They cannot even afford to drive. So, clearly, this was not a \"pro-poor Budget\" because the poor have been left out and everything is now going to be expensive. Kenyans have been crying even before the Budget was read. I do not know what crime farmers have committed to warrant the punishment that they are being given. Farmers feed us every single day. We eat food every single day. Food is the largest traded commodity in the world. It comes from farms and not from the skies or air. What have we done? We have taxed farmers more. I come from western Kenya and I do not know for how long we shall keep on talking about the plight of sugar-cane farmers. If our farmers went off sugar-cane growing - our land is the most prime land in this country - we will not need to import any maize in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that you are aware of this fact because you have spoken about it before. I want to appeal to our farmers: \"For once, take things into your hands. Nobody has forced you to grow sugar-cane.\" Why is it that sugar- cane farmers have to go on financing the national Budget? That is not fair at all. If you went to countries like India, farmers are a strategic group. The policy there is that you have to feed your nation before you export. In India, farmers do not pay tax. It is small scale farmers who actually feed Kenya and, therefore, we should not tax them. It is not right that we 1502 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 21, 2006 continue to impose taxation on them and impoverish them until they cannot even afford secondary school fees for their children. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you heard that this was a \"pro-poor Budget\", but look at our secondary schools. Even the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education said that education in Kenya is too expensive and that is why our children are now going to study in environments which we are not sure of. When they come back, we expect to develop as a nation. I want to congratulate the Minister for Finance, but I would also like to tell him that he has one more Budget to read next year. Let him be more innovative when that time comes. If I were him, I would scrap all the anti-corruption bodies. I remember that time when we were discussing the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) in this House. I argued that he was going to earn Kshs2.5 million per month! That is a salary earned by one person and it is more than what the Prime Minister of Canada earns! What have we got now from KACC three years down the line? Absolutely nothing! What do we want to target? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the first time, I am earning an MP's salary. However, I can tell you that I support a whole village. So, if my salary is taxed the people who depend on me will not benefit. The money will go into the national kitty and the people who depend on me will not benefit. Yes, some Kenyans are applauding the proposal that Members of Parliament should be taxed. If you see this month's payslips of Members of Parliament, there is absolutely nothing in them. I am aware that so many people depend on us. We may be the only ones who earn a salary that is worth talking about in the village. So, if you put it in the national kitty--- I think that on that point the Minister wanted to be populist and it is not right. We have other Kenyans in the public service who earn a lot of money, but they never share out that money. So, I hope that, next year, he will stop being populist and instead be rational and professional so that he can give all of us a Budget that we can be proud of. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to support."
}