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{
    "id": 364534,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/364534/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 302,
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    "content": "on the issue of laptop computers. If you look at the Report of the Committee itself, it indicates, from the public hearings that most members of the public are not persuaded about the laptop issue. We know that it was a noble idea. It was something which was being stated to attract votes but we are Kenyans. We know what is always said to attract votes and what the reality is. You cannot be talking about giving laptop computers to children when teachers are agitating for salaries, and when we have members of the public agitating outside Parliament Buildings, saying that Members of Parliament are increasing their salaries. There are more urgent and pertinent issues in this country than laptop computers. I thought the Committee would have been brave enough to scrap off the provision for laptops altogether. The Equalisation Fund is provided for in the Constitution to ensure that marginalised areas are brought to par with the rest of the country. Unfortunately, the way this issue has been handled, in the last Parliament, is not proper. I am glad that the Budget and Appropriations Committee has singled out this issue. I hope that this matter will not come up again in the next Budget, and that they will follow the recommendations by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA). I also hope that the Budget and Appropriations Committee will initiate the process of bringing to this House a Bill which will state out clearly how to address the issue of marginalisation. The Constitution provides a very brief description of who is marginalised or what marginalised persons are. We must give flesh to this description, so that we do not leave it to the whims of an individual. Hon. Speaker, Sir, there is an area about which I am not very happy. I am glad that the Leader of the Majority Party said “this is the Jubilee Government” more than ten times. I am not in Jubilee. So, I am very clear that this Budget indicates that I am not in Jubilee. Our Committee made very significant savings so that we could also look at areas which did not vote for the Jubilee Government. This Committee provided for a paltry sum of Kshs100 million for fishing and put fishing under the priority areas that should be considered, including the purchase of aircraft if money becomes available. You cannot compare omena with aircraft. We did not ask for billions. We asked for only Kshs100 million. I hope that the Chairman is listening. Two weeks ago, this House passed a Motion on giving of grants to fishermen. Previous governments treated the fishing folk very unfairly and poorly. We have subsidies in agriculture. We have important bodies dealing with the agricultural sector but the fishing community has been very grievously neglected. Whenever action was taken, it was aimed at killing the traditional fishing communities. We are setting up a national training institute on fisheries in Central Kenya. The things that this country does sometimes are laughable. This is the stuff that wars are made of. Even though we have not been able to get into government, we must be able to get our resources. This country is settling very badly. We have spoken in the past to issues of inequality and lack of equity. We cannot treat casually issues that affect the daily lives of people. I am extremely offended by this Committee for putting fisheries together with aircraft. Even if I do not speak to anything, I speak to this specific issue. I hope that Rev. Mutava Musyimi, who chairs this Committee, will take this issue seriously in subsequent Budgets."
}