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"speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
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"legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
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"content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. First and foremost, I thank the Budget and Appropriations Committee where I served once for the work well done. Looking at this Budget, we have many challenges, one, in terms of the elections. We know very well that budgets of countries in East Africa come at the end of the financial year, which is 30th June. So, they come around July. This was meant, deliberately, to avoid speculation. In this case, because of the change of the election date, we find it very difficult. Maybe it is high time as parliamentarians we thought how to amend, in future, the election date so that the budget cycle will be in tandem with other East African countries to avoid speculation. Another big challenge about this Budget is that it is supposed to be implemented from 1st July and within a month or so, we are going for the elections. So, it is going to be a challenge if we, as the National Super Alliance (NASA), are going to take over this Government. This Budget is done in line with the Jubilee Manifesto. That is why it is important that in future we also need to do some realignments and the aspects of harmonisation so that we go back to the old system and avoid these issues. This is because as NASA, we smell victory. We are going to have a big challenge to implement the Jubilee manifesto-based Budget. As such, we will be forced to come up with a supplementary budget. This is the thinking so that in future we need these constitutional amendments. The Budget Policy Statement (BPS) was passed on the Floor of this House and the critical aspects about it are to highlight key priorities. It comes with the ceilings. Last time when we discussed this, we discussed about the issue of reducing 6 per cent of the fiscal deficit. However, if you look at this, you find that it is even expanding. We are not adhering to what we passed in the BPS. This is because of the increase of the country’s debt. We know very well that about 53 per cent of the debt level is 15 per cent of the GDP. The Leader of the Majority Party tried to do a comparison analysis. He mentioned the United States of America (USA) having 100 per cent and Japan having 200 per cent. We must look at the environment. Those are grown economies. So, we cannot have a comparison. That comparison is out of order. It is, indeed, important that as a country, we must maintain the debt level because sustainability, in terms of servicing the interest is very high and it is becoming very difficult for this country. That is why we also have issues of inflation in this country. For the first time, the inflation rate has gone to almost 10 per cent. The cost of living is unbearable to Kenyans. When the Jubilee Government took over power, the price of a packet of unga was about Kshs70. Now we are talking about Kshs140. So, as far as the economy is concerned, the Jubilee Government has let us down badly. Let me talk about infrastructure. We are not saying it is bad but we must expand in a sustainable manner. When it comes to payment, it is being a nightmare. As we try to do the development, we must ensure that it is within the scope. In line with the PFM Act, we have ceilings. It is advisable that the 30 per cent should go to Development Budget. However, as far as we are concerned, if you analyse this budget, you find that when it goes to development, it is actually way below. This is something we need to look at. According to the PFM Act, it is supposed to be within the timeframe of two years. It is unfortunate that when we come to this, we forget about the issue of the two years. It has been 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."
}