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{
    "id": 800838,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/800838/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 50,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "I want to put some clarity on what the Leader of the Majority Party has said regarding the changes that took place in terms of the budget-making process from what happened previously – from the 10th Parliament going back, what we saw in the 11th Parliament, and now where we have reached. The reason we have changed the system is because, before the new Constitution, the budget-making process was majorly a function of the Executive. Parliament’s role was limited, more or less to what one would call “a rubber stamping responsibility”. We were not expected to make major changes in the Budget. With the new Constitution, we completely changed the budget-making process and gave a Committee of Parliament that power, through the Constitution. In fact, the only Committee that is mentioned in the Constitution is BAC. It is said that, that Committee will sit, address, look at the Budget and scrutinise it, listen to Kenyans and propose amendments. We thought that would do away with the traditional Committee on Supply as we were used to while transacting the budget process. However, you will realise that having tested and experimented with this, it is coming out clearly that the plenary of Parliament also requires more time to engage and interact with budgets of specific ministries, departments and State agencies. Therefore, it is important we set aside the time. That is why these six days are good for us. It is so that each and every ministry is interrogated. You can see a lot of corruption being unearthed in the country of late. A lot of this corruption is engineered or orchestrated through the budget process. One, these corrupt elements start their corruption by putting money or voting the estimates in the budget. I urge my colleagues in this House to take advantage of the six days so that we interrogate each and every ministry’s budget. We should look at the health budget because a lot of us who were in BAC were not very comfortable with some of the provisions in the budget of that ministry. We need to look at the budgets of Youth, Sport and Labour where the National Youth Service is residing and even the defence budget and all the others. In fact, the budget of security is something that we, as a country, need to discuss. It is whether the way we interact with that budget is sufficient enough for us to be sure that the amounts being allocated are for the benefit of Kenyans. Regarding the time limitation, it is logical. This House is big in terms of numbers. We have 349 MPs. We want as many as possible to make a contribution to this House. Remember that just a few days ago, there was uproar in the country. It was from my colleagues who, probably inadvertently or genuinely, were cited by some group or NGO as having not contributed. The picture that gives the electorate is not very good. It is not very nice. We need to allocate enough time so that all Members who want to make a contribution could do so. I would be hesitant to appreciate when an individual who wants to contribute and has not found time to do so is listed among those who have limitations in contributing. We need to provide enough time for Members to contribute and speak on areas where you think you can make better argument or value for the time you are allocated. With those many remarks, I second."
}