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{
    "id": 878173,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/878173/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 614,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "President of the USA said: “Do not tell what you value, show me your budget and I will tell you what you value”. I have read the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) and from the onset, I have to congratulate the Committee on Finance and Budget for being diligent in making sure that they protect devolution. One of the things that worried me most is that I have seen a lot of money being increased in healthcare and agriculture yet these services are devolved. The first question I ask is: Why do you increase so much? Why do you want to maintain money in Afya House and in the Ministry of Agriculture here in Nairobi while at the same time you are reducing the money which you are allocating to the county governments? I commend the Committee led by the distinguished Sen. (Eng.) Mahamud for having recommended an increase in the revenue which will be sent to county governments. My biggest worry - we have canvassed on this issue quite often in the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) - is where county governments and now the national Government are overestimating their budgets which cause a big problem when it comes to maintaining and following the budget through. This, I agree with the distinguished Senator of Bungoma; they are doing so deliberately. You want to show that you can collect a lot of money yet you cannot. The problem has been in on-source revenue. There has never been a solution on how to increase on-source revenue. Earlier on we talked about how we can use technology to map up our sources of income to be able to state accurately how much we can be able to collect. The appetite for borrowing by this country and particularly by this administration is what worries me. When you look at the 2019 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), increase recourse to external commercial debt is what seems to be driving it and this causes a significant challenge. Many people have spoken on issues corruption and I agree with the Senators who clearly stated that, this is where corruption begins. Corruption begins here; where you project and you say you are going to raise, for example, “X” amount of money, you allocate and you end up spending what you do not have. I disagree with the distinguished Senator for Nandi when he says that sometimes we should not use social media to prosecute matters. My view is that currently, the power of social media is what will put this Government to check. Everyone who has a Face book page or who has looked at WhatsApp groups, today there was a billboard which was made by very interesting Kenyans of all the corruption scandals. I wonder where they got it from. I am sure whoever did that looked at the origin of these corruption scandals. It is where we allocate. This is why sometimes it worries me, when we draft legislations, rush them through and then when wisdom prevails and we slow, at the passage of those legislations, all of a sudden, the media comes out with a scandal. A very good example is the irrigation Bill which we killed in this House but then, it came back from the National Assembly and then now look at it. The media is awash with scandals of dams which we have built and nothing ever happened yet most of the money should be devolved to the county government so that we can improve the agricultural sector. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}