HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 246525,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/246525/?format=api",
"text_counter": 160,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": " Not at all, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir! I am sufficiently informed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this was a good Budget. It addressed many issues. In our debate, I think we can enrich it even more. We can get the Minister, when he brings his Finance Bill, to improve the Budget from our contributions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, before I make comments on specific issues, I want through you, to request His Excellency the Vice-President and Leader of Government Business, to make sure that when we are debating a critical issue in this House, our Ministers, especially those from critical Ministries, are present to listen to what hon. Members are saying. This is because, in the current Budget, some Ministries are given money in the basket to do their internal budgeting. Therefore, it is important that they listen to what hon. Members say, because that is the only way we are able to make them act better. That will help this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to laud the Minister for paying attention to youth programmes. Youth programmes are very critical in this country; whether you are talking of urban or rural youths. They are all in need of income generating activities. I want to suggest that the amount of money put in youth programmes be distributed to constituencies. This is because if we do not do so, some skewed allocation of resources may happen. In distributing this money to constituencies, we should take into account the equity relating to population density and poverty index, so that the whole country has a taste and benefit from these resources that we are giving to the youth. Equally, regarding the money set aside for education, especially for polytechnics and other tertiary institutions, the Minister said that he would want to see at least one polytechnic per constituency benefits. However, we find that there are some constituencies whose population and needs are much higher than others. So, we might find that we need a formula where some constituencies like mine get more. If Ijara Constituency, for example, is given one polytechnic, I need about five or ten so that we can equalise in terms of population density. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) has been lauded by many hon. Members as a very major innovation. Indeed, this has been recognized by the Minister by stating that money available for the construction of police posts, bursaries and health centres will now be channelled through the CDF committees. Again, we need some formula in doing so. This is because there are needs in certain constituencies that are not equal to others. For example, urban constituencies like the ones in Nairobi are not building new clinics. They already have hospitals, for example, the Kenyatta National Hospital. We need to look at the need assessment of every constituency, especially those in rural areas that need a lot of help. We do not have enough health centres and police posts. But Nairobi is well supplied, yet, if we use the constituency formula in a blanket form, we will find that Starehe Constituency with as many police stations as we all know, is given equal money with Gichugu Constituency which needs police posts. This will not be equal. So, a formula has to be found out on how to balance rural constituencies vis-a-viz urban constituencies. This applies also to bursaries and so on. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of our major problems in this country is infrastructure. Roads in this country remain an eye-sore. They are a problem to economic growth. I think now that we have a Budget that has allocated funds to roads, we hope to see that roads are repaired to enable quick movement of merchandise from Mombasa to our neighbouring countries and other towns in the country. We also need to quicken the process of tendering in road construction. We still have a problem where the conception of a road project up to its actualisation, is taking up to 30 months. This is not good for the economy. We need a situation where the conception of a road project and June 20, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1447 its actualisation should not be longer than six months. I have always wondered when you find the Ministry of Roads and Public Works doing a survey, feasibility, pre-feasibility study on a road that has been there since Independence, before they go to tender. These are things that we already know. We know the width, length and even the traffic capacity of the road. This is something that we need to deal with. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to laud the abolition of road licences. Half the cars on the roads have been spotting forgeries as road licences. Now that the money is going to fuel, all we hope and pray for is that this money will be put to good use. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to speak about something that is very close to my heart and the people I represent; Sugar Development Levy (SDL). When SDL was introduced into this country, it was also, in a way, meant to be a deterrent to sugar importers. That is why people who import sugar are also levied 7 per cent of the value of the importation to go to cane development in the country. It is totally unacceptable to those of us who come from the sugar- growing areas to remove SDL from the importers of sugar and pass it down to the farmer. I want to give notice that when the Finance Bill comes here, we are going to move an amendment to remove it. We have said it here before that sugar-cane is the most taxed crop in this country. Why are we not taxing other crops like tea, coffee or pyrethrum? Why are we targeting the sugar industry; an industry that people of Western and Nyanza provinces live upon? This is something that is totally unacceptable to us and we shall resist it by all means. The Minister must restore the SDL on the crooks and barons that invade sugar industry in this country if we want to keep the production of sugar competitive. Equally, it is by taxing the importation of sugar that we can be within the WTO rules of protecting the local farmer without offending international trading regimes. I have heard what my colleagues from the sugar-growing areas have said, and I agree with them. I hope the Minister will see the sense and when he brings the Finance Bill, he will pluck out this offending provision on taxation of sugar. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to see the privatisation of National Bank of Kenya, Postal Corporation of Kenya and some other industries, speeded up so that citizens are given an opportunity to own the investments that this country has put in place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister has also suggested that the construction of schools, hospitals, roads and similar social infrastructure should be Income Tax deductible, provided expenditure is incurred with prior approval of the Minister for Finance. One of the problems we have in any Government is bureaucracy and red tape. We hope that the requirement, prior to initiation of projects, from the Ministry of Finance will not be unreasonably withheld because of bureaucracy. Sometimes, when you get a benefactor to support you in a project and you queue for six months to get prior approval, then you lose the project. We hope this will be done. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}