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"id": 252531,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Syongo",
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"legal_name": "Zaddock Madiri Syong'oh",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. First, may I take this opportunity to really commend you because you guided this House very ably and professionally when we were discussing the amendments, and the ruling you made could not have been better. I hope that the Minister for Finance will take note that those emoluments that are due to the Ministers and Assistant Ministers on account of their being hon. Members, specifically their basic salaries, which are their entitlements as hon. Members, should remain under the Vote of the National Assembly when the Supplementary Appropriation Bill is prepared. Mr. Speaker, Sir, having said so, I want to make a few remarks. When moving this Motion, the Minister for Finance attributed the need for these Supplementary Estimates to two reasons: One, because of the emergency that we are all aware of; the famine and drought-related situation. Secondly, he talked about the shortfall in tax revenue. I would like to say that, as a House, we must support the introduction of the Electronic Tax Registers (ETRS). This instrument will definitely help the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to increase the amount of tax revenue for this country. Every hon. Member should support it so that an equitable amount of money is collected from those who are able to pay taxes, in order to finance the development and expenses of this Government. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is something that worries me. The Minister for Finance indicated that there was a shortfall of Kshs5.2 billion in terms of Import Duty and Value Added Tax on imports. The Minister attributed this shortfall to the introduction of the new import documentation procedure. I happen to know the Director-General of the KRA as a classmate and also because he is a professional. I cannot believe that such measures, like a new system, could have been introduced without carrying out an impact assessment of that new policy to the extent that we have a shortfall of Kshs5.2 billion! I can see that the Assistant Minister for Finance is very busy consulting with his colleagues, but I would like to appeal to him to check on the banking and the revenues which were collected during that period to ascertain that, indeed, there was a shortfall of that magnitude; because I do not believe that, that kind of shortfall could have been allowed to take place without the financial impact assessment. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the third point I want to make is this. When the Minister was moving this Motion, he talked about one of the ways he is going to use to deal with the problems that necessitated the Supplementary Estimates. He stated that he is going to fall back to domestic borrowing to the tune of Kshs5.9 billion. If we have to increase our domestic borrowing by that amount, then we must be very, very concerned. For one, we are going to reduce substantially the amount of credit available for the private sector to invest and expand their businesses. There is also a possibility that, indeed, we are going to see that the gains in terms of the improvement of the economy, and indications are very clear that it is beginning to improve, are likely to be reversed. So, we are likely to see unemployment continuing and, in fact, even tax revenue collection will also be threatened. But, Mr. Speaker, Sir, even more worrying is that inflation is likely to increase. Only last year, the inflation rate was a single digit. At the moment, it stands at 20 per cent. If we have to borrow another Kshs5.9 billion on the domestic market, the inflation is going to increase. The Government needs to take cautionary measures before it uses this particular method to bridge the gap between estimates and actuals that are required. The second method which the Minister told us he is going to use to deal with the shortfall is the re-allocation of very substantial amounts of money from one Ministry to another. It is very important that before this is done, and even before this was proposed, a detailed analysis of the impact of such re-allocation is taken care of. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is only the other day when we lost our colleagues in an air disaster. Recently, we witnessed a documentary on one of the television stations, showing the pathetic 658 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 25, 2006 conditions of our airstrips. It is only last week, after the Marsabit disaster, when we had another case where a Kenya Airforce plane was unable to take off from an airstrip in Busia. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there was also a news coverage that, indeed, a number of police helicopters cannot be used because they cannot be maintained. The issue of serviceability of sensitive military equipment - including aircraft - is so critical that we must take it into account before we reallocate funds. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am reliably informed - I have not had a chance to look at the Estimates - that the Ministry of Education will have to forego Kshs1.3 billion! That money will be taken away from the Ministry and reallocated elsewhere. What is the impact of that in terms of education service delivery? I urge the Minister to look at those issues very critically. Otherwise, we will be trying to solve one problem and causing a more serious one. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to conclude by saying the following. Several hon. Members have alluded to the over-subscription of KenGen shares. Those monies will increase Government revenue. Have those amounts been taken into account? There is no evidence that they have been taken into account. Since we are going to get money before the end of this financial year, I want to request the Minister for Finance not to deny sensitive departments substantial amounts of money by bringing these Supplementary Estimates. If he has done that, he should refund those monies, so that we do not compromise on service delivery. I feel that sufficient care was not taken when these Supplementary Estimates were prepared. So, I can only say I very reluctantly support this Motion! Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir."
}