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"id": 246608,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/246608/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Finance",
"speaker": {
"id": 174,
"legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
"slug": "amos-kimunya"
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, to demonstrate the importance we attach to education, we have allocated to the sector the bulk of our resources amounting to Kshs99 billion, which is 27 per cent of our 1408 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 15, 2006 total expenditure. Out of this, Kshs71 billion is earmarked for teachers' salaries. We have continued to allocate much of the budgetary resources to this sector on the conviction that education is the most ideal instrument of empowering our youth. In the health sector, the Government remains committed to providing low cost and accessible health care to all Kenyans. The Government will continue re-orienting policy towards preventive health care provision, including expanding immunisation coverage while ensuring efficient and effective health care service delivery countrywide. To achieve this objective, key reforms will be implemented in 2006/2007, which includes improving heath care procurement procedures and accountability systems, as well as strengthening supervision capacity of medical supplies in rural health facilities. We expect this to result in improved access to drugs and medical supplies by our district and divisional health centres. In order to reach out to disadvantaged groups, the Government, in collaboration with non- state actors, will set up mobile medical programmes targeting vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and people living a nomadic life. In line with the Government's commitment to achieve the millennium development goals, the share of total resources going to the health sector will increase from Kshs30 billion, which was 8.6 per cent of the total expenditure in 2005/2006, to Kshs43 billion, which is 9.4 per cent of the total spending in 2008/2009. These resources will be used to fund HIV/AIDS interventions, health care infrastructure, affordable drugs and to train the medical staff as part of the initial implementation phase of the National Social Health Insurance Scheme. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the agricultural sector is a major contributor to our development goals through the creation of employment opportunities in the rural areas where the majority of our people live. Therefore, over the past three years, the Government has implemented a number of structural reforms aimed at improving efficiency and productivity in the coffee, pyrethrum, sugar and the co-operative sub-sectors. I encourage the hon. Members to refer to the Budget Strategy Paper for more details on the reforms we are taking in this important sector. Reflecting the need to address low agricultural productivity, and to reduce poverty and unemployment in the rural areas, the share of resources allocated to the agricultural sector is projected to increase sharply from Kshs18.6 billion, which was 5.3 per cent of the total resources in 2005/2006, to Kshs33.5 billion, which translates to 7.3 per cent of the total resources in 2008/2009. To enhance support for the sector, we will continue with our efforts to strengthen land management and tenure system, support fisheries, forestry and mining, and protect the environment and natural resources. We are also going to provide additional incentives for the sector which I will be announcing later. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the infrastructural development, as hon. Members are aware, the development and maintenance of physical infrastructure is a prerequisite for rapid and sustained economic growth and poverty reduction. Rehabilitating and maintaining our infrastructure is a necessary condition for reducing the cost of doing business and improving competitiveness of our products in the region and in the international markets. To this end, our framework for improving infrastructure calls for a dramatic increase in domestically financed capital expenditure by about 42 per cent in 2006/2007 or from Kshs41 billion to Kshs58.5 billion. Over the Medium-Term, the share of resources going to the physical infrastructure will rise from Kshs81.7 billion in total, which is 19.2 per cent of the total expenditure in 2005/2006 to about Kshs126 billion, representing 21 per cent of our total resources by the year 2008/2009. We will continue to give priority to expanding and improving maintenance of the road network, providing easy access to water resources and accessing affordable energy. There are notable structural bottlenecks in the implementation of road projects and these delays continue to hold back our economy from achieving its potential. Our people would like to see actual roads and water projects June 15, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1409 on the ground and not figures in our books. To this end, and to improve accountability in the Budget implementation, the Budget Monitoring Unit will be revamped and will be charged with the responsibility of co-ordinating development of sector specific benchmarks and monitoring Budget implementation, initially paying particular attention to roads and water programmes. This Unit will be required to prepare comprehensive quarterly reports on Budget implementation for dissemination to the public. The Economic Management Committee of the Cabinet will also enhance its monitoring of the implementation of the infrastructural programme. Turning to the road transport sub-sector, the Government fully recognises that an efficient road network facilitates development by allowing easier movement of goods, services and people, and by creating linkages between products and markets to promote economic efficiency. To reduce road transport costs, we shall accelerate road repairs and construction by addressing all structural constraints including governance related challenges holding the sector back. To achieve this, I have set aside Kshs15 billion for road programmes. In addition, private sector participation, including the maintenance of specific urban roads, will be encouraged beginning 2006/2007. To this end, I will propose measures under the income tax to allow private sector players to contribute towards the infrastructure improvement in our country. We are also planning to set up a Highway Roads Authority, a Rural Roads Authority and an Urban Roads Authority. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is common knowledge that road contractors take too long to complete new roads and many of our roads are in a state of disrepair mainly due to poor workmanship. This practice in unacceptable. From now on, strict rules and benchmarks will be developed to ensure that contractors deliver their services within the stipulated time and standards. Those who fail to do so, will be blacklisted and will not be allowed to participate in Government procurement. While contractors have failed us in the delivery of quality roads, we know that this has been done in connivance with our engineers. We have ample evidence of this through the review of the pending bills. Let our engineers who are not ready to reform know that the Government is ready to dispense with them and, if need be, hire expatriate engineers. We cannot continue to tax Kenyans without giving them value for their money."
}