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{
    "id": 801848,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/801848/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kipyegon",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1453,
        "legal_name": "Johana Ngeno Kipyegon",
        "slug": "johana-ngeno-kipyegon"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I also wish to contribute to the issue of budget-making. I wish to state from the outset that budget-making is a preserve of this House. It is very absurd at times when we fall to the whims of the Executive who plan for us. It is the Members of this House, who are supposed to look at the Budget, follow it strictly and dictate on how to make it, especially through public participation. If we look at the areas which those people visited, they are also biased. The Committee Members only visited the areas they come from and allocated money to the same. When you look at the counties and constituencies to which money is allocated, the same names come up repeatedly. When you consider the issue of water and look at the constituencies that were visited, the same constituencies come up. When you go to other issues, the same constituencies come up. It is high time we looked at the Budget of this nation as a serious matter that belongs to the whole nation and not particular constituencies. There is another serious matter of borrowing. This country is borrowing a lot of money. It is not making any changes. It is overtaxing the people of Kenya. Sometimes we tax the people of this country thinking that we are making a lot of money for development and other matters. Overtaxing the citizens worsens the situation because it is those same people who are supposed to support the projects that we come up with yet we are overtaxing them. We should look at those issues when we come up with the Budget. Another issue which equally disappointed me is that of the Equalisation Fund. As per the Constitution, the Equalisation Fund is supposed to be allocated every financial year. As far as this is concerned, they have only allocated it once and it has only been implemented once. In this Budget, they have given us the allocation for last year and not this year. That means that the areas which usually benefit from the Equalisation Fund will not get the money in this Budget. That is very disappointing. We are supposed to be proactive and look at the needs of this nation so that all the areas which we are trying to equalise are equal to other areas. We do not reject the introduction of new methods of looking at those particular areas. Those areas which had been identified must finish the allocation which was given by the Constitution so that we start a new system. I have also looked at how they have allocated money for dams, boreholes, roads, the health sector and also the KMTCs. I am quite disappointed because I remember the Government had launched several tarmac roads in my constituency but I do not see them being mentioned anywhere. I remember the President came to my constituency during the campaigns and launched a Kshs400 million Level 4 Hospital but I do not see it anywhere. I was also talking to the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Health. With the use of the NG-CDF money, we have managed to build a KMTC. I am very happy that they have allocated money to the KMTCs. I am hoping that my constituency will be included because so far, I have made some progress. 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."
}