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{
    "id": 461983,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/461983/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 208,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Dido",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2749,
        "legal_name": "Col (Rtd) Ali Rasso Dido",
        "slug": "col-rtd-ali-rasso-dido"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. We live in a country of 40 million and 46 per cent of our population lives below the poverty line. Eighty per cent of this population comprises of rural peasants and the majority live on below a dollar a day. About 20 per cent of this population lives in the slums. We know how life in the slums is like. Travelling First or Business Class for a Kenyan who is not using his money is pretending opulence in the midst of poverty. In 2013, we are experiencing what you may call large, heavy or big Government where about half or a third of the working people belong to the Government. This burden on the Government will eventually be seen in many forms. It will be a serious drain on the national kitty. In the forecast of the strategic plan, 30 per cent of the national Budget should go to development, but when we see issues like air travels, expenditure on county governments and national Government, then we are convinced that saving 30 per cent of the national Budget to grow the country for develoment is going to be a pipe dream. Over the weekend, I was in my constituency for the Mashujaa Day and I realised that we have members of the national Government and the county governments. Within that, you have members of the province and the district. I thought that there is a serious duplication in how currently the Government is being run where three civil servants at different levels virtually do the same job. For example, you have a District Water Officer, a County Water Director and in the county government, you have the County Water Executive Officer. You ask yourself: What do all these three individuals do? Basically, they do the same job that could have been done by one person. More than just the air travel, the Motion by hon. Jamleck Kamau, should go further to provide cross-cutting strategies on how the Government can reduce the burden on the taxpayer. Hon. Speaker, Sir, if Kenya is going to develop, then we must reduce this drain in the form of Reccurent Expenditure. There is a famous American saying that “if you want to live well, you must make your own money”. In this particular case, if public officers or State officers wish to travel First Class with comfort, then they should be topping up the cost to pay for that comfort. With a big Government, because of uncontrolled expenditure, this country can easily see a downturn in the economic growth unless austerity measures are introduced. We must borrow a leaf from those countries which are developed than ourselves such as India, UK and the USA where they clearly say that public officers must attract limited expenditure in the execution of their duties. I wish to end by saying that this Government, in the name of making all citizens happy, is throwing a lot of money to the counties and Commissions. Unless there is financial prudence and control on lavish expenditure, the dire need to address the key areas which are important to our people such as water, health, education and poverty eradication might not be achieved as quickly as the Jubilee Government has envisaged. I 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."
}