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{
    "id": 438694,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/438694/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 198,
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    "content": "Statement. It was enhanced to Kshs17.44 billion. However, after receiving presentations from the Departmental Committee on Defence, they reinstated the position of the House Resolution. However, we were at pains to agree with that recommendation given the situation of insecurity in the country and the terror threats against this country. We had to listen to the Director-General of Police and we had to reinstate the figure to Kshs17.44 billion. That is because we feel we need to give sufficient resources to the Ministry in charge of security in this country. Hon. Members, this Budget also sets aside certain resources that are meant to take care of the views received from public hearings. Article 221 of the Constitution mandates the Budget and Appropriations Committee to receive views from the public and make recommendations. Therefore, this Committee has set aside a total of Kshs5 billion that is meant to go towards funding those projects that arise out of public hearings. I would like to say something about the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. We all understand the importance of this Ministry as far as food security is concerned. As much as this has been devolved, we feel that more money needs to be allocated especially to some of the parastatals. One of the parastatals has remained under the purview of the national Government. The Agricultural Finance Corporation says that it has been under-funded. Again, we were constrained and we were not able to provide any funding. I do recommend that, that Corporation, which actually provides loans to farmers in order to support them, needs more funding. The Corporation’s officials should appear before the relevant Departmental Committee and then in the Supplementary Budget, we could consider additional funding towards that pillar. If you look at our recommendations, the Budget and Appropriations Committee respected most of the recommendations from the Departmental Committees. We have only differed with them on the issue of security, where we had to reinstate the position as per the budget estimates that we had received. So, this is a Budget that we feel we need to support. If there are any other amendments, then hon. Members should be able to bring them before this House. However, the Committee has done its best. We did a lot of scrutinizing. There are cases where some Departmental Committees had to visit the various programmes and projects so as to appreciate the budgets that were presented before us. I remember the Departmental Committee on Finance and Planning had to visit the Ronald Ngala Project in Mombasa. We also had to visit the Huduma Centres so as to appreciate the figures that were put before us. You will realize that we have made certain reductions in the budgets of some sectors. The reductions were either informed by the high pricing of certain programmes or we were not convinced as to the outputs. The other reason for the reductions was the low absorption by certain departments. Hon. Members, I think that is what we did and I want to end there. Thank you, hon. Speaker, I second the Motion."
}