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{
    "id": 778177,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/778177/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 256,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "I appreciate, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Thank you very much. What I was saying is that when you pay 50 or 40 per cent out of your revenue to debt because it has to be paid before anything else, you remain with about 60 per cent. It restricts the way you can play with the Budget in allocating to different programmes. So, the lesser you pay in debt repayment, the better for you as a country because you are able to play around and have bigger room to reallocate resources. The other issue is auditing of conditional grants. For the last four or five years, this country has been providing conditional grants to county governments. The big question is: “What are we doing as representatives of the people?” We must ask the hard questions. Are Kenyans getting value for these conditional grants or is it time we did away with them, retained money at the national Government then we can implement the projects? If they are not getting value for the grants, I do not see any need to add them. There is the issue of leasing vehicles, leasing medical equipment, the issue of village polytechnics and cancer centres. Money has gone out as conditional grants, but people are dying of cancer. Where are these cancer centres we are putting money into? So, somebody must be tracking these conditional grants so that Kenyans get value for money. Last but not least, we also take our blame as a House. As we are talking, the only approved audited reports, and I wish to inform Hon. Mbarire Cecily, are for the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 financial years. Even as we allocate resources to county governments, we are using data which is outdated. Our Public Investments Committee (PIC) and our Public Accounts Committee (PAC) need to put that extra gear so that they bring these reports up to time, so that we can allocate resources properly. The law is very clear that approved and audited reports are the basis for allocation. The only body that approves reports is Parliament. If we fall back in terms of approval, we are doing a disservice to this country. From a Budget point of view, Hon. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}