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{
    "id": 729968,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/729968/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 237,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ochieng",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "Budget we give to them in a fair, objective and non-discriminatory manner. Money is approved here, but you find projects being taken to some areas and not others. That is the role of Parliament. I thought that before we pass this Budget, the Budget and Appropriations Committee would report to us that, last year, we approved this Budget, this is what was done, this is how the money was distributed not just across the Ministries, but across the regions of the country. This is lacking. I hope the Committee on Implementation can in the future do this before we go to another Budget. What is appalling, even as we do this Budget that is now headed to Kshs2.7 trillion, is that we just have hunger everywhere. People are hungry not just in Marsabit and Mandera. A lot of people think that problems only affect people in Marsabit and Mandera counties, but the truth is that even in Nairobi, some people sleep hungry every day. Very few families can afford two meals in a day in Kenya. Hunger is not just in Wajir and Turkana counties. Therefore, we have to put money aside to ensure that we have food security in the country. We do not need roads if people have no food. Who will work on the roads if we do not have water? We do not need a railway. Who will go to the railway if people cannot work because they are not healthy? We needed to put our money in important areas. In my opinion, Kenya must first of all be able to feed her people before we think about grand projects. The Members will confirm that children in all secondary schools across the country have been sent home because parents cannot afford to pay Kshs3,000 because they could not find jobs. It is a shame that we have approved a Budget of Kshs2.6 trillion yet our children are at home because their parents cannot afford to pay school fees. My constituents travel to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, and to the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, as well as to Kisumu, to access basic health services because those services are not available in the constituency. We have devolved health services. There are things that county governments can do to ensure that people access basic health care services. The national Government can set the pace in terms of the kind of health services they want county governments to provide. We cannot have every county having its own template. After some time, we will not have universal health care services if the national Government does not lead that process. We cannot blame county governments alone on matters of health. If you look at the Sessional Paper that has been talked about all the time, you will realise that the rallying call of the Government of Kenya at Independence was to fight disease, ignorance and poverty, but we have not done so to date despite the fact that we have been having incremental Budgets for the last five years. I plead with the Ministries concerned to up their game. We are in a country where anything can happen. You do not know who will do the right thing. People in this country have learnt that even if you do the wrong thing, you will get away with it. I plead with the Ministries concerned to ensure that we do the right thing. If you are given money to provide food, fertilizers and water to the people, please, do so. It really hurts that in this age and time, the President and the Deputy President can switch on electric lights in a grass-thatched house that is about to fall down. The President was taken there to launch what is called “The Last Mile Project.” It is a shame we see that on television every day. I am happy Hon. Ababu is here. I hope he is not the one raising a point of order."
}