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{
    "id": 802167,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/802167/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 224,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kanini Kega",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1813,
        "legal_name": "James Mathenge Kanini Kega",
        "slug": "james-mathenge-kanini-kega"
    },
    "content": "On the gross proposed allocation to the State departments, the State Department of Industry got the lion’s share at Kshs10.3 billion, the State Department of Small and Medium Enterprise got Kshs2.7 billion and the State Department of Co-operatives got Kshs1.3 billion. Allow me to begin with the State Department of Co-operatives which the Committee did not realise any major issues in the Estimates. Upon review of the submissions, the Committee observed that despite the fact that Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) is the regulating body and is projected to collect levies, they still had a huge deficit in the recurrent budget. Therefore, the Committee recommended a reallocation of Kshs30 million from the allocation of the New Kenya Cooperative Creameries’ development expenditure to SASRA’s recurrent expenditure since New KCC is commercially viable and can fill the deficit. It was a very good engagement because it was a mutual agreement with the two entities. They agreed that New KCC would cede Kshs30 million shillings to SASRA. It is one of the major recommendations. The Committee faced challenges in deliberating and making recommendations on the proposed allocation to the other two State departments. The CS, in his submission, was not in agreement with the proposed allocation to the various entities and deliberately proposed new allocations as annexed in our Report to the Budget and Appropriations Committee. This was unusual because, ordinarily, CSs would come to defend the budget that has been presented to us by the National Treasury. Unfortunately, in this case, the CS created a complete deviation from what was presented on the Floor of the House. The presentation called upon us, as members of the Committee, to go to the ground to verify what the CS proposed is in line with what he said. That is why we came up with a raft of changes to the Budget. As if that was not enough, when we were doing the presentation to the Budget and Appropriations Committee, another letter came from the National Treasury. It was a communication from the Cabinet saying that another Kshs4.3 billion had been removed from the State Department to be taken to Defence. We were the only Committee that was to appear before the Budget and Appropriations Committee twice because we had to go and reconsider the new recommendations that came from the National Treasury. The letter proposed a reduction of the allocations to the various State agencies to zero. Those included the Kenya Industrial Estates (KIE), KIRDI and NG-CDF. We did not find it right to reduce the amount of Kshs1 billion that was allocated to KIE to zero. The KIRDI has a huge building in South B, whose construction has stalled for many years. It is about 63 per cent complete. Its budget was reduced from Kshs600 million to zero. We have the constituency industrial centres across the country. Their budget was reduced from Kshs700 million to zero. We sought to know why the Cabinet made that decision. Unfortunately, the CS was not in the country. We did not get any reason for the proposal of that reduction. More so, Kshs4.3 billion was reduced from a State department which had gotten Kshs10 billion. However, following the communication, the Committee convened a meeting to discuss the request by the National Treasury. We agreed that the proposal to reduce Kshs2 billion from the State Department was okay. That was meant to purchase land in Naivasha for Special Economic Zones. We got information that maybe the Government will get alternative land. We were okay with that. However, the request for reduction of the Kshs2.3 billion was declined by the Committee, taking into consideration the major role played by the State Department in achieving the Big Four Agenda. Industry is one of the Big Four Agenda. This is the time that the Government should also match the talk with the walk. We need to put money where our talking is. 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."
}