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{
    "id": 438755,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/438755/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Gichigi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1909,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Kamunye Gichigi",
        "slug": "samuel-kamunye-gichigi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I also wish to echo the remarks of the previous speakers that the Budget and Appropriations Committee this time round has done a good job. I wish to explain to the Member who had indicated that last year we performed dismally that we really had no time to look into this. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I will indeed be requesting that we think about how we can change the timeframe for various structures in this process of the budgeting especially when it comes to the public hearings. I think it is important that we begin a bit early and comments and requests of the public be forwarded to the various Ministries to input before they prepare the Budget. This is so that we do not incorporate the public hearings at the tail end of the process but at the beginning of the process. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am happy that this Budget has taken care of key areas in terms of funding like security, as others have indicated. It is very important that this time round we take care of our security. Education has been taken care as well. I know that we have not provided sufficient funding to education but within the constraints of the money that was available I think a good job has been done and probably as we move on to the next financial year, we are going to add even more funds. The youth have also been taken care of especially through the National Youth Service (NYS) and we are hoping that the Ministry that has been given serious funding through NYS is going to benefit our youth and we are going to see serious changes in terms of employment of the youth. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, indeed, the Budget and Appropriations Committee adopted a proposal by the Departmental Committee on Labour and Social Welfare that an employment promotion centre be established. This is so that we can place them in employment not only within the country but also outside the country. I am also happy that the water issues are being addressed. The social safety nets have seen very dramatic increments. In the course of this year, only about 59,000 elderly people are benefitting from the cash transfers. This is going to be raised to Kshs210,000 in the next financial year from June and I believe our wazees are going to be helped by that. Having said that, there are some areas, in my opinion, that did not receive sufficient funding like agriculture which is the backbone of this country. I think we need to relook at this issue. I know that we have devolved most of these sectors but I have not seen that, especially where I come from in Kipipiri anything really significant coming from the county government. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, another area that needs to be looked into is the productivity process. We have not taken care of the office that is supposed to create the process of measuring the productivity levels of various workers in this country, both in the private and public sector. I know that we have serious challenges in this country. Looking at the Budget, the Government is hoping to raise about Kshs1 trillion from revenue collection by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and other areas. We have a Budget of over Kshs1.7 trillion. We are hoping to raise Kshs1 trillion. To be honest and even after listening to our parliamentary Budget Office, we are not likely to reach that Kshs1 trillion, which means that we are likely to have about a Kshs800 billion gap. That is between what we are 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."
}