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{
    "id": 802104,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/802104/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 161,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Gikaria",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2489,
        "legal_name": "David Gikaria",
        "slug": "david-gikaria"
    },
    "content": "Following the referral of the Estimates to the Departmental Committee on Energy, the Committee held its meeting in Mombasa. It was to scrutinise the Budget Estimates for the Financial Year 2018/2019 for the ministries, state departments and agencies under its purview. This was after briefing by the Parliamentary Budget Office. After deliberation, the Committee made observations on Budget Estimates for the Financial Year 2018/2019 for the State Department of Energy and the State Department of Petroleum. I will start with the State Department of Energy. The State Department has been allocated Kshs62 billion in the Financial Year 2018/2019. It signals a 19 per cent reduction compared to the current Financial Year which is 2017/2018 which stands at Kshs77 billion. This is a significant drop. It has dropped since 2013/2014 where we had Kshs111 billion. It has continued reducing over the years to the current Kshs62 billion. The Committee also noted this allocation is below the approved Budget Policy Statement ceilings of the Kshs73.15 billion. This is why I was saying we sit here and approve a very important statement in the name of the BPS only for us to get different figures during the actual Estimates. The Power Transmission and Distribution Programmes are prioritised in the Financial Year 2018/2019. An allocation of Kshs47 billion out of the Kshs62 billion represents 76 per cent of the gross allocation to the State Department of Energy. At least 57 per cent of the total development budget in the State department is funded by our development partners. It is a very critical component in our development. Out of the 57 per cent of the total budget, we get our monies from our development partners. This scenario has the potential of compromising the absorption rate wherever the Government of Kenya counterpart funding is not provided. It is also very important for us to note that much as we get so much from donor funding, the Government must play its part to give the counter funding. Whenever they do not give that, it means the donor development funding will never be released. This has really affected some of the projects that I am going to mention much later. To remedy this, the Committee is urging the Government of Kenya to ensure it prioritises provision of counterpart funding. The State Department of Energy reported accumulated pending bills totalling Kshs22 billion with the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) taking the lion’s share of Kshs13 billion; the Kenya National Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) at Kshs3.9 billion; the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) at Kshs4.9 billion and the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board (KNEB) at Kshs148 million. This is another issue that we need to raise in this House. There is no purpose of us starting some new projects when we have such huge pending bills which are never funded and money is ever given for the respective ministry to clear its pending bills. Pending bills hinder implementation of any subsequent financial year, in this case the 2018/2019 Budget. The bills form the first charge on the Budget. Provisions for funding to clear the pending bills and completion of ongoing projects should be prioritised. We have 13 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."
}