Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 878651,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/878651/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 408,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiminini, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Chris Wamalwa",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "asking whether the Big Four Agenda is for public relation or the President means business. The kind of BPS we are discussing is a routine. We salute the time when Hon. Kimunya was the Minister of the National Treasury, during the time of President Mwai Kibaki. It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that there is economic sustainability in the country. As we speak right now, people are languishing in poverty because of the high cost of living. When President Kibaki took over power the GDP of the country was growing at a negative rate. He came up with Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation and we saw the GDP grow from negative to positive seven. He also came up with Vision 2030. The BPS we are discussing has no linkage at all. It is supposed to highlight the priority programmes and there must be a linkage so that it can be operationalised. When you look at this Report, you do not see it. We expected National Treasury to give a feedback or a scorecard of last year’s BPS. We had a BPS last year. What happened? Did they achieve the programmes? There is no output indicator. There is nothing. This is routine and it is not adding value. We call upon the CS, National Treasury and the Principal Secretary to pull up their socks. They cannot continue taking Parliament for granted. This Parliament under the presidential system is supposed to allocate money in line with the BPS. That is why when we have the Budget Estimates there will be no linkage at all with this BPS. This has been going on for a long time. If we are serious as a country and we want to grow economically, we need to develop a matrix which will show measurability. Professor Kaplan and Norton of Harvard University developed a model called a balanced scorecard. I am sure Hon. Kimunya knows it. They said that if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. We are walking in darkness. The National Treasury has not developed a matrix and indicators that we can measure to see how we are moving as a country. On public debt, the rule of the thumb is when a developing country borrows it should not go beyond 50 per cent of the GDP. In this country, we are now borrowing up to 60 per cent of the GDP. It becomes very difficult to sustain this public debt. That is why you find the cost of living is high and Kenyans are suffering. There is poverty everywhere. Corruption in this country is high. The reports from the Auditor-General show that 30 per cent of the GDP is wasted through corruption. The President has been in the frontline talking about the fight against corruption. But we have not seen any meaningful strategies in place to show that he is fighting corruption. Corruption has three components. I am happy we have the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Judiciary. All must work in a collaborative framework. But we have a blame game going on and it is on the Judiciary. The Judiciary can only give judgements based on evidence that is given. As we are here today, there is corruption right, left and centre. As we speak right now, there is serious scandal going on at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). We call upon the parliamentary relevant committees to look at this matter objectively. Article 95 of the Constitution says that Parliament can debate to resolve any matter of national importance. The public/private partnership that is being talked about was introduced by Kenya Airways, the national carrier, but a loss-making organisation. It was done without proper consultation and proper public participation of the staff of KAA. We must speak about these scandals. We must lead from the front. We cannot preach water and drink wine. As leadership of"
}