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{
    "id": 668516,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/668516/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 105,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Katoo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 199,
        "legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
        "slug": "judah-ole-metito"
    },
    "content": "5,000 to 10,000 teachers will be employed in August so that when schools open in September for the third term, we will have those teachers in schools. We have been talking of electoral reforms and this Budget has included money for them. Without anticipating debate, I know we will be having a joint select committee of both Houses to see what reforms we need in the electoral sector. It is good to point out that as we move there, the money that has been set aside for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in this Budget needs to finance registration of voters because this is the last Budget towards the general election. Voters need to be registered at the polling station and not the way it was done in March, this year where there was only one registration clerk per ward. We should now register voters at the polling stations in the entire country. As we do that, the funds provided in this Bill, if this House approves them, the IEBC needs to use them towards reducing the long queues of having over 1,000 voters in one polling station and open up many polling stations to ensure that a maximum of 500 voters are the ones who vote in one polling station. Given the fact that we are almost at the tail-end of the term of this Parliament and Government as well, in this Budget we should use all means to say no to corruption of whatever nature and to wastage of public funds by public agencies. We should only do the essentials. No agency should request more than it can chew. Finally, we should say no to low absorption of funds appropriated to various agencies. The reason we have low absorption rate is because of the very cumbersome procurement process. We should look for ways of simplifying the absorption process by simplifying the procurement process and the release of funds. It takes a lot of time from requisition to actual release of funds even to counties. Therefore, for us to absorb the budget that has been prepared, we should aim to do that. My final point is on the NGCDF. As I said, we are at the tail end of this term of Parliament. We should have this money very quickly so that we can wind up projects that we had identified for this term of Parliament. I ask the concerned committees of this House together with other government agencies to ensure that by September, all the NGCDF money for this financial year has been released. I support."
}