HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 449223,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/449223/?format=api",
"text_counter": 165,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 110,
"legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
"slug": "john-mbadi"
},
"content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker. I rise to second the Motion to adopt the Report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee with regards to Supplementary Budget II. Hon. Speaker, first of all, let me say that this Government is making history today. The history is that, for the first time in the history of this country, we are having a second Supplementary Budget. Whether it is a good history or a bad one, it is left for us and Kenyans to judge. Hon. Speaker, however, I think one would also appreciate that this Government came into power in the middle of the year and, therefore, the preparation of the Budget for 2013/2014 was largely affected by the settling down of the Government. So, one would appreciate that. But we hope that in future, we may not end up seeing what we see today, of having more than one supplementary budget within a period of less than three months. Hon. Speaker, Article 223 of the Constitution talks about the Supplementary Budget. It states as follows:- “Subject to clauses (2) to (4), the national Government may spend money that has not been appropriated if – (a) The amount appropriated for any purposes under the Appropriate Act is insufficient or a need has arisen for expenditure for a purpose for which no amount has been appropriated by that Act.” Hon. Speaker, Article 223(2) goes on to say: “The approval of Parliament for any spending under this Article shall be sought within two months after the first withdrawal of the money, subject to Clause (3).” Hon. Speaker, therefore, looking or reading the Constitution to the letter or looking at the Constitution, it, therefore, means that this House could be transacting supplementary budgets even after every two months. I think this is one of those provisions in the Constitution that we need to look into again because it distorts and destabilizes the Budget implementation process and causes a lot of confusion and, maybe, may result even into economic instability and fiscal distortions. Therefore, I think, as a country, we need to look at that provision and see how best we can use those provisions. Hon. Speaker, having said that, there are things that we observed when we were looking at the supplementary budget estimates and I just want to mention a couple of issues in terms of details. What may be of interest has been spoken by the Chair. First, the overall Budget is reducing by Kshs19.6 billion. That, therefore, means that we over- estimated what we could be able to do in the course of the year and, more worrying, is that a lot of reduction is going to touch on Development Budget. I think, as a country and as a Parliament, we need to take interest in this and look for ways of ensuring that the absorption rate in this country with regards to Development Expenditure is enhanced and increased. Hon. Speaker, I am currently working on a Bill and on an amendment to the PFM Act so that we force the Executive to be reporting periodically on the budget implementation to Parliament and having a process of processing the same reports. 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."
}