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{
    "id": 461967,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/461967/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 192,
    "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. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Let me take this opportunity to also thank my friend, hon. Jamleck Kamau, who has brought a very timely and important Motion that would help save some resources for this country. I want to remind this House that during the Tenth Parliament, up to the youth year, we used to travel Business Class, as Members of the National Assembly; to Mombasa or Kisumu or anywhere within the country. I want to say with pride that the reason as to why Members of Parliament stopped travelling Business Class was not the existence of any legal framework; it was actually as a result of a discussion in the aeroplane as we travelled to Mombasa one evening. We asked ourselves why we should pay Kshs16,000 more just to have a curtain separating us from the rest of Kenyans. Hon. Speaker, I remember that the current Speaker of the Senate, hon. Ekwe Ethuro, took it upon himself to take the matter to the Liaison Committee and insist that Members of Parliament travelling any distance within two hours must travel Economy Class, and that is what we do today. There is no law barring Members of Parliament from travelling Business Class to even Kisumu or Mombasa. We did it so as to save money for our activities because we realised that saving part of this money would help us meet other expenses. Therefore, there is nothing absolutely wrong in making this a policy of Government. I want to communicate this to the Treasury: That, they should not wait. The moment we pass this Motion, the Treasury should go ahead and issue a circular to all the Accounting Officers, so that it becomes an audit reference point. We would like the Auditor-General to be reporting to us in the same way they report to Parliament on salary advances. It is an audit reference point that they must report on in respect of any State corporation or any Government Department or Ministry. We want this to take place. We are waiting for the Treasury to come up with financial regulations and have them brought to this House. We want some of these issues captured in the financial regulations so that, as a House, we can debate and pass other austerity measures. The very able Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, hon. Mutava Musyimi is here. I am sure that, as a Committee, we will be very strict on the issue of domestic travel, as a Budget line item, so that we can avoid wastage of public resources. Hon. Speaker, some of the State officers who want to travel Business Class within the country, or even outside the country, are people who use Land Rovers and travel for six hours. I wonder why the situation becomes so unique when they get to the airport---"
}