HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 908668,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/908668/?format=api",
"text_counter": 162,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Rarieda, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Otiende Amollo",
"speaker": {
"id": 13465,
"legal_name": "Paul Otiende Amollo",
"slug": "paul-otiende-amollo"
},
"content": " Thank you, Deputy Speaker. As I contribute to this Motion, I want to note the sentiments of the Leader of the Majority Party. A debate arose as to whether Members should be listened to in silence. The Member who had sought to know would have known that the specific Standing Order is No. 24(4) which says: “When delivering an address to the House, the President shall be heard in silence and the address shall not be followed by any comment or question.” However, under Standing Order No. 78, we ought to listen to every Member in silence. So, the Hon. Baya was right to request that he be listened to in silence. I generally applaud this Motion and the efforts that have been made lately. There has been a lot of positive movement. I want to make three points. First, we consciously, as a country and as the team that wrote the Constitution, moved the power to determine the Budget from the Executive to Parliament which is the representative body of the People. We, as Parliament, must fully seize that. All elements that appear to still retain the larger say on the Budget in the Treasury must be resisted. I, therefore, think that we need to carefully examine the process of budgeting from the way it moves from the Treasury to the Budget and Appropriations Committee, then to this House, so that we are sure that the ultimate product is a product of this House and not of the Treasury. I am not fully satisfied that we are there yet. The Treasury has, through devious means, retained fundamental say in the ultimate Budget. Therefore, that is something that we need to look at carefully. Secondly, we ought to caution and ensure we exercise our powers to avoid the Treasury sabotaging a Budget that has been passed by Parliament. In the ultimate, you will find that we pass a Budget, but over 50 per cent of it is not allocated. As we speak today, each Member is entitled to the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) of about Kshs109 million. To date, all of us have received barely between Kshs50 and Kshs53 million. That means that, essentially by Executive fiat, the Executive has halved what Parliament allocated to NG-CDF. This occurrence is not unique to Members of Parliament alone. Basically, that means that the Budget we pass is a mere recommendation, but the Executive then determines what the actual Budget should be. That should not be. Thirdly, it is a practice by the Executive of slashing budgets that are allocated by Parliament at whims by different percentages. This means that by that process, the Treasury is assuming the powers of Parliament in making the Budget and, therefore, determining which body should get what allocation and which one should not. That is a practice that we ought to censure; that is a practice that we ought to stop. It is not based on the Constitution and the law. Looking at the specifics of the Budget, it is generally more balanced than it has been before. However, there are three specific items that attract negative attention. One of them is an item called Government Advisory Services that has been allocated Kshs910 million. I do not know what that is. We know the Attorney-General is the Chief Government Advisor and they have a separate allocation. There is a budget for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government which, of course, gets a lot of money, Kshs139 billion but under their budget, there is something called Policy Coordination and Support Services that gets Kshs28 billion. To my mind, this is where the mischief lies. These allocations that are given and are not properly accounted for, we, as the budget-making body, ought to be satisfied with them. Thirdly, I have seen the allocations to the Office of the Deputy President of Kshs2.1 billion. I am sure that this is where we host the big delegations. The Deputy President deputises the President. The President has Kshs4.8 billion, why does the Deputy President need Kshs2.1 billion? This money should be taken to the TVET institutions so that all of us have them. 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."
}