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{
    "id": 428411,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/428411/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "programmes to ensure that the Budget is pragmatic, we should put money where the mouths of Kenyans are. Hon. Speaker, even when you look at this Budget Policy Statement, it is important to look at the revenue raising measures. Statistics also show that the entities that pay taxes to Government are only 1.1 million people. If you tabulate that you will see that the people who are employed by Government are 700,000; then you will see that we have a very small private sector. However, we have failed as a House to legislate on how to actually benefit from capital gains. Therefore, we should actually come up with a solution to various deficits that we experience. Hon. Speaker, if you look at the ratio of the national debt to the GDP, I think I am worried. I know we have been compared with economic giants like Japan; it has been alleged that they are over 200 per cent in terms of debt. Of course, if you look at the USA, the international practice is actually between 28 and 35 per cent. Therefore, we need to be careful about the kind of money we borrow; if we are to invest, we should invest in areas from where we will get maximum gain. Hon. Speaker, I think it is only in order to look at how we can allocate resources; this will actually help in creating the promised one million jobs. On the contrary, how do you create jobs while retrenching people? We need to look at how we can actually stem corruption. Even if all hon. Members were to take a salary cut of 20 per cent or 10 per cent, we would not even be sure whether this kind of money would be appropriated properly. Therefore, I think this whole idea, in my opinion, of wage bill is a smoke screen; it is something that is meant to divert public attention from the failures of the Jubilee administration. The Jubilee administration promised that they would put food on the table of Kenyans, but we have not seen food on the table. The cost of living has gone very high. If you look at our neighbours in Tanzania, the price of sugar there is three times lower than what we are paying here. The cost of petrol is going high and we are wondering really whether we can actually talk about austerity measures when we are not actually trying to subsidise productivity; we are actually trying to say we reduce consumption but we are not accounting for the money that we are supposed to save. I grudgingly support and say that we need to be realistic. We should not be kicking the ball--- We need to address real issues because we are real leaders for real Kenyans."
}