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{
    "id": 683877,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/683877/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bunyasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "President, you never know what goes on in the individual ministries. This is the only way you can know what is going on. We have had challenges in some ministries because of the diverse range of activities and the large involvement of donors. For example, in the area of health, you never know if there is double-dipping. You do not know if the area uses funds from the Exchequer or borrowed funds. The quality of account-keeping in agencies and ministries is extremely important. There is also the issue of the use of public funds. The bigger the budget, the more you have to raise the revenue. We call it revenue but it is actually taxation. You have to find a way in which to tax more so as to raise the revenue you need to finance the budget that you have agreed on. It may be impressive to grow the budget. The budget grows each year, partly because of inflation and partly because needs expand. To raise that money, somebody must pay tax. It is very disappointing that after people have raised those taxes in whatever form, our Government has had to borrow funds. This is an obligation for the future. Sometimes, people say that that is not Government money, but it is World Bank or African Development Bank (ADB) money. That is absolutely inappropriate. That is still taxpayers’ money. It is money that we have received today and have to pay tomorrow. Therefore, how efficiently this money is used is extremely important. In some sectors like education, if I may use Nambale my own constituency, in the three plus years I have been a Member of Parliament, there has not been a single classroom that has been built by the central Government. Not a single one! I understand some have been built elsewhere. The criterion used is opaque. Only the other day, we sat down to discuss what might be done. It is very depressing when you find that the areas with the biggest loopholes are the Free Primary Education (FPE) and Free Secondary Education Programmes (FSEP). If those resources were more tightly used, probably we would have had a bit more infrastructure from the central Government, via those resources, to catch up with the infrastructure demand. I come from a constituency and I know it is true of the county and parts of very many similar counties where the demographics are such that fertility is still very high, classrooms are bursting at the seams with children and, therefore, we still may catch up to get infrastructure. We hope the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will provide us with teachers. Therefore, the leakage we see in those two major funds is one on denying resources to the most critical areas. The Budget process requires that when there are findings on misuse of public funds, they are taken up in a timely manner so that it does not become a chorus each year of the same song that you can almost close your eyes and guess that the next thing people are going to say is that funds were misused. We expect an immediate follow up. It is my earnest conviction that other judicial agencies should, and Parliament must insist that they sit in those Committees, so that they can pick this issue up so that by the time we are coming to the Floor, the relevant offices doing investigations or those that can charge before a court of law are fully informed. They should not wait for five years to get the document. We should get effective and follow up to have this Report properly implemented. As I conclude, the road sector is in the process of being devolved. I think we have not passed the appropriate legislation. But there must be sufficient clarity on the transitioning of that process. It was a problem in the 2013/2014 Financial Year and it is going to be bigger now that the sector has been devolved. Use of funds in contracts is still far from efficient and satisfactory. I hope we will pay sufficient attention to the Report of the 2014/2015 Financial Year 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."
}