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{
    "id": 554761,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/554761/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 97,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Musyimi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 95,
        "legal_name": "Mutava Musyimi",
        "slug": "mutava-musyimi"
    },
    "content": "Consolidated Fund to meet expenditure during the year 2015/2016 in respect of votes as attached in Schedule. Hon. Speaker, before I seek your permission to hand over the microphone to Hon. Isaack Mwaura, who is a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, to do the seconding, let me again take this opportunity to thank this Hon. House for the very vibrant and robust discussions we had here last week on Wednesday. I took it positively. That is the way democracy moves forward; that happens when questions are raised, particularly by people who represent our citizens. Going forward, and this is a matter that I have raised with the relevant authorities even at the top level, I am of the considered opinion that we must give more latitude to committees of the House in our budgetary estimates and allocations. Secondly, we must give latitude to the Budget and Appropriations Committee because it has the mandate to review reports that come to it. When we use the powers given to us, we use them as responsibly as we can. That is the law as you pointed out. When a report finally ends up on the Floor of the House, this House must have latitude. We have raised this matter with all powers, so that a percentage will be set aside to offer that latitude next year. That will be so that the involvement of the elected Members of Parliament has capacity. There is no point of discussing numbers that are more or less finalized, where the movement that is allowed to us is so limited. It makes our participation almost futile. Secondly, I want to thank my colleagues, the Committee Chairpersons and all the Members of the Committees for all the consultations that have taken place. We have taken it well. I am also very grateful because on Friday the Executive was able to join us and we were here for the better part of that afternoon. Before I sit down, I want to give you a sense of what we go through in the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Yesterday, in the presence of the Treasury, we had one of the Ministries come before us. Under that Ministry there is a Semi-Autonomous Government Agency (SAGA). A recommendation had been made that we move Kshs1.6 billion from this Ministry to a programme created by law, or to a SAGA that exists at the behest of Executive fiat. It is still law, but in terms of hierarchy of importance, an institution created by statute enjoys a certain measure of seniority over an institution created by Executive fiat. That notwithstanding, we then had a debate. We allowed the two institutions to engage each other in our presence and in the presence of the Treasury. The Members of my Committee were part of that debate. It went on for about an hour. Do you move Kshs1.6 billion, which is already committed as counterpart funding because we expect money from World Bank to help 353,000 families in the country over the next one year, and give it to a SAGA? Eventually, a decision was made that we will not re-allocate those funds. What I am trying to say is this: With all the best intentions, sometimes the Budget and Appropriations Committee finds itself in very awkward situations, where there are turf wars between Government institutions. For instance, when we invited the Ministry of Lands, it had understanding of the law that was completely contrary to that of the National Land Commission. We need to spend money to buy equipment. Where do you host that money? Do you give it to the mother Ministry or to the National Land 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."
}