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{
    "id": 461926,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/461926/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 151,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Prof.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I rise to support this Motion; the gist of this Motion is the expenditure that we, as a country, incur through our Government officials. Hon. Speaker, Kenya is probably one of the most highly taxed countries in the world and the majority of our people are poor. Over 41 per cent of our population lives below the poverty line. That is leaving on less than US 10 Dollars a day. These are the people who pay taxes; these are people whose money we spend every time public officials travel. These are the people who need services that often are not as optimal as they should be. The health needs of our people are not yet met. Many times you go to our hospitals and people cannot get drugs and the surgeries they need in time. Hon. Speaker, Sir, in the education sector, although the Government has given a lot of support to children in primary and secondary schools, still many kids do not go to school because their parents cannot afford fees. The infrastructural needs in our country are great; our roads need repair and we have a big problem of security in the country. Therefore, it behooves us to use efficiently resources that are raised by taxpayers. Hon. Speaker, I dare say that currently, I do not think we are using these resources as efficiently as we should. We incur losses in several ways like extravagant use, for example in air travel. We incur losses in areas that we do not need to spend on. Huge leakages occur because of corruption. I can say that, if we used the resources in this country as efficiently as we should, we would offer free and good health care. Therefore, it is extremely important for public officials to use resources efficiently. The use of Business Class, or even First Class, when travelling within the country is, in my view, extremely extravagant. Hon. Speaker, I know this because I have been in the public service; I can tell you that in my time, I reached a point where I decided that I did not want to use Business Class while travelling within the country. For example, when travelling to Kisumu the difference between Business Class and Economy Class is over Kshs16,000. What do you get when you sit in that Business Class? They draw a small curtain behind you, give you a glass of juice and you pay Kshs16,000. That is immoral."
}