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{
    "id": 666442,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/666442/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 179,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. The issue raised by Hon. Gumbo is very important to this House. I sympathise with my Chairman, Hon. Mutava Musyimi. It is basically because the BPS is called the Budget Act in most countries. It is supposed to be an Act of Parliament once it is passed by Parliament. The question is whether, as a House, we want to go against an Act that we have passed. One of the surprising things you encounter upon reading this Report is the fact that all the three Arms of the Government have already gone beyond their ceilings. The law is flexible. Where we go beyond the figure, we should explain why that happened. The fundamental question is from the fact that the BPS provides what is called the “micro-environment on which the Budget is anchored”. It talks about interest rates, exchange rates, inflation and balance of payments. Since this is the bigger picture on which the Budget is anchored, how are these figures going to impact on those factors in the country when you change them? How are they going to impact on the Budget deficit? How are they going to impact on interest rates? How are they going to impact inflation? Hon. Speaker, that is why the law is not very flexible in terms of whether you can change the figures by the much you want. Looking at this Budget, we have changed it by more than Kshs224 billion. From any angle you want to look at it, this is poor budgeting. It is a situation where you lay the framework and then change the figures so much without explaining the impact of the changes on the micro-economic variables. It will be very dangerous for this country in terms of how we progress. As a House, we agree with what the Chairman is saying that we are in a new constitutional dispensation. But as a House, the more we continue to provide free room for changing the Budget after we have approved the BPS, the more we fail to help this country. My plea is that while Hon. Gumbo may want us to allow the Budget process to go on, from next year, it will be very important for us to take the BPS seriously. We should change the BPS if there is something we want to change, so that we can have a strong foundation on which to build our Budget. That way, we will be helping as we will not be providing a lot of flexibility to the Budget making process. That is one point that I wanted to bring forward. I am happy he raised it before we got into detailed discussions. This is a matter which is quite serious. It is a policy matter. It is on whether we really want to go this way as a country. We should want to say that the BPS passed by Parliament is there in law. We may not want to call it an Act of Parliament, but we may strictly want to stick to it. We will call it the BPS that we will want to stick to. We know things change. When that happens, then the Chair should explain to us what happens to the micro-economic variables. You do not just leave Kenyans hanging and unsure of what will happen at the end of the day. That 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."
}