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"speaker_name": "Hon. Musyimi",
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"content": "Hon. Members, just by way of clarifying on the link between the Budget and Appropriations Committee, the Budget Policy Statement (BPS), Division of Revenue, County Allocation and Revenue Bill and also the 2014/2015 Estimates, I may just indicate the following; that the Report of my Committee on Budget Policy Statement will recommend to this House – and this is important to note - the ceiling for the Judiciary, the ceiling for Parliament - both Chambers - and the rest of the National Government. It will, therefore, set the vertical division of revenue. This is important because thereby, it will be making a very critical input to the Division of Revenue Bill and, ultimately, the County Allocation of Revenue Bill as is expected of us by Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, Article25(7) and the Standing Orders 232 (7). Finally, hon. Speaker, and you spoke with noticeable displeasure yesterday, my Committee is not amused by the pressures that we have been put under by the Treasury. The time constraints that have been put on us to consider the Supplementary Estimates and BPS at the same time, I think is unfortunate and we fully support your sentiments. We hope that the Treasury will behave differently next year. There was an indication from the Treasury that there might be another Supplementary Estimate. Our view is that, really, we do not need more than one Supplementary Estimate per one financial year. It is just too much work and it raises expectations that we cannot always meet, which does not help relationships within a working chemistry. I had actually hoped, were it not for the current pressures on BPS, to actually table my Report on the Supplementary Estimates tomorrow. I am afraid that may not be possible. We have been meeting all day today, we met yesterday and it would appear now that I may have to table that Report on Tuesday. Can I just say that, as the Committees gave their submissions to us, I thank the Chairs for the tremendous work that they have done. Please try and save some money, so that we can then use the savings to deal with some of the challenges that we have, especially challenges brought to us by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). We were very keen not to be seen to favour ourselves, when we were approving the Estimates for 2013/ 2014 and so, there is a deficit, I know that once we make those recommendations and the numbers on PSC goes up, it will raise quite a bit of interest out there. But that is okay because we must deal with a deficit that we actually created ourselves. So, there will obviously be consideration for the request made by PSC. It will get priority attention by the Committee indeed, as we look at other committees. We are particularly concerned about the anti-graft organs and I do not want to go there because I will have the opportunity to make my case next week. I have in mind the Office of the Auditor General, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Controller of Budget. Those are the people who will help us deal with the problems at the counties. That is because there are problems. As I sit - and this has not made me very popular with my Committee - when I hear Committee members saying that they have exhausted their funds, I find it a bit interesting. Can I tell you hon. Speaker, up to now, we have not travelled at all out of this country. That is because we wanted to make sure that we had enough money to do the work that has been given to us. We have made a sacrifice and I think that is what is expected of us in the public service because travelling overseas cannot be a priority when there is work to be done here for our people. I really would like to plead with other Committee Chairs that, before we undertake the trips, let us make sure that we have The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}