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{
    "id": 719763,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719763/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 67,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kipyegon",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1453,
        "legal_name": "Johana Ngeno Kipyegon",
        "slug": "johana-ngeno-kipyegon"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Before I make my comments, I would wish to condole with the families of those who lost their loved ones in Somalia. Lives were lost carelessly and unnecessarily. This is my first day in Parliament after some time when several things happened in this country. Though they are defending our country, I think they have outlived their usefulness in Somalia. They should be defending our country at the borders. Countries are withdrawing their armies from such countries, like the US and all those superpowers. Our soldiers need not die outside our country. I wish also to congratulate my sister Madam Amina, for the effort she put in trying to clinch the chairmanship of AU, although she lost. That must have given us good lessons to know how we relate with other countries and seriously on our foreign policy. Secondly, I want to support this Bill. When you look at how much money we are putting on several issues, it is very encouraging. It is encouraging to the extent that we are factoring in matters that really affect the people. The only thing we should look at seriously is implementation of all these matters. We are talking about a Budget of over Kshs1.5 trillion. This is a very huge Budget. That is a lot of money we will spend in this country. When you look at the money that is supposed to be utilised at the national level, around Kshs1.2 trillion, versus around Kshs300 billion that goes to the counties, we do not want to make it a ceremony. Each and every year we are dividing money between the national and county governments. Before we even pass these Bills, we should tell the country how this money will be utilised. Sometimes we put all our attention in the counties, asking the governors how much money they have spent on development. We have seriously focused on the counties which normally take about Kshs300 billion, forgetting that we leave Kshs1.2 trillion plus in the national Government. Each and every year, we do not see any serious development in the country. We must also scrutinise what exactly the national Government is doing with the roads money, health money and the money that we allocate for several departments and ministries. How exactly are these monies utilised? I come from a county where for the last four years, since Jubilee took office; there was not even a single inch of a tarmac road. I normally vote here, we pass the Budget, we put money for the roads and the roads are constructed in my county. Why should I vote for this one when I have voted for the Budget for the last four years, especially the Budget for roads without getting even an inch of tarmac road in my constituency? Sometimes we make a lot of noise, especially concerning our governors. It is true that the governors are thieves and reckless spenders but they have copied those bad manners from the national Government. They say “like father, like son.” The governors have learnt from the national Government how to steal, misspend and overspend public funds on useless things. It is high time we looked at our Budget and gave it serious attention, as Members of Parliament. We need to scrutinise the way the county governments and the national Government use public funds. As one of my colleagues said, we have been allocating money to the Equalisation Fund each and every year. In every Budget cycle, the Division of Revenue Bill provides money to the county governments and the national Government, as well as to the Equalisation Fund. In the last four years, we have allocated billions of shillings to the Equalisation Fund. I come from a county 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."
}