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{
    "id": 517641,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/517641/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 329,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Aden",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Deputy Speaker. As you have rightfully said, what is before us is the Committee’s Report on the Budget Policy Statement. Quite a number of hon. Members, including my good friend, hon. Midiwo, need to take time to understand the Budget making process. It is a journey that starts with our consideration of the Budget Policy Statement through to our passage of the Appropriations Bill. This particular Budget Policy Statement addresses a number of very important issues. It sheds light on the five key pillars that are being targeted in the coming financial year, in order to ensure that our economy grows. The Budget Policy Statement, which is basically an indication of where the Government intends to take this economy in the next financial year, has five key pillars, as were presented to this House earlier on. On the issue of doing business, there is no doubt that Kenya needs to adopt the good policies enjoyed by countries such as Rwanda in ensuring that Kenya becomes an attractive country to do business in. Agriculture, transportation and food security are areas being targeted with a number of very important interventions. Water and energy remain key problems in this country. Water is a problem in almost every part of the country, especially in the region I come from. Energy is the fuel that is needed to drive our economy. Access to quality social services and enhancement of devolution are the other two pillars being addressed by the Budget Policy Statement. Through this Budget Policy Statement, the Executive seeks to enhance the social protection safety nets. It provides for several interventions, including caring more for our elderly people and persons living with disabilities, among others. Hon. Deputy Speaker, this BPS indicates that in 2014/2015 we expect a growth of 6.1 per cent and 7 per cent in 2015/016. The caution I want to express here, and which we have put very clearly to the National Treasury as Members of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, is that the fundamental drivers of this are the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), agriculture, investment in agriculture and manufacturing and regional integration issues. We need to be very focused on those because failure to do so will certainly cause us not to achieve the indicated growth rates. The total Budget is Kshs1.88 trillion, which is the expenditure against Kshs1.34 trillion expected revenue. Again, the caution we throw in here is that the key drivers of this revenue are Income Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and Excise Duty. We want to urge that we must protect these particular sources of revenue, so that we have undisrupted streams of revenue coming in. Hon. Deputy Speaker, devolution has also been supported very much. I want to say that the challenge is now on the Controller of Budget (COB) and the Office of the Auditor-General to ensure that we supervise and ensure that we hold accountable the county governments for the manner in which they abuse these particular resources. It is very disturbing to see that corruption is the main outcry in almost every county, from Garissa all the way westwards to Kisumu. The Controller of Budget gives us quarterly reports but these reports are not detailed enough. In my recent enquiry into the details of 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."
}