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"id": 833292,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/833292/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": {
"id": 1835,
"legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
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"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I take this opportunity to thank all the nine or so Members who have contributed. Those were important contributions. There was a very serious contribution by the Member for Kwanza, Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi, and various other Members who have contributed, including the support and contribution of Hon. Kathuri Murungi. Pertinent issues have been raised. I will pay particular attention to what was said by Hon. Manje on the possibility that we will be borrowing for Recurrent Expenditure to pay salaries and wages. I want to confirm to the House that indeed, the Government is not borrowing for Recurrent Expenditure. If you listened to the contribution of Hon. Ndindi Nyoro, the Member for Kiharu, he asserted that from the projected revenue collections, we have a small amount that is left for Development Expenditure. The rest is borrowed. That is why I indicated from the beginning that even this particular year, we have a Kshs562 billion deficit, which the Government intends to fund through both domestic and foreign borrowing. Therefore, most of the borrowing goes towards Development Expenditure. Just like in our own micro-economies in the household, we are not able to meet all our demands for the projected expenditures. If you were to grow, even as a person at the micro-level of a household, you borrow and invest in productive areas that will help you grow. The national economy is a macro-economy, which is a conglomeration of the micro-economies of the household. Therefore, there is absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing provided the borrowed money goes into productive areas that will help the economy to grow and create better job opportunities for the millions of our jobless people. I encourage Members, even as we contribute both here and outside, I had indicated when we had the Speaker’s Round Table in Mombasa two weeks ago, that… I am usually taken aback when I hear many Members of Parliament speak eloquently especially on radio and television stations on what ought to be done. They forget that that task and responsibility is vested in us as Members of Parliament in this House. It is not even the Senate. It is vested in the National Assembly. The National Assembly is charged with the responsibility of appropriating money to various ministries, departments and agencies of Government. In light of what Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi said in his very serious contribution, that indeed even if you want to reduce certain agencies of Government, it is incumbent upon us as Members of Parliament, those who sit in Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing, and any other Member of this House who may have such a proposal, to bring a legislative proposal to consolidate those roads agencies, that Hon. Ndindi and Hon. Wanyonyi have spoken about, some of which are in the water sector. We are still considering and I confirm that out of close to 30 legislative proposals, I will table a report on that in the very near future. We have had to consider in the Budget and Appropriations Committee in line with provisions of Article 114 on the money Bill legislative proposals, many of them, probably a third of them relate to proposals to create new funds, new agencies and new boards. We are the same people who are telling the country that we ought to be reducing the size of Government, reduce the number of parastatals, yet we are the ones creating them through our own legislative proposals. 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."
}