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{
    "id": 965762,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/965762/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 268,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kajiado South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Katoo ole Metito",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13239,
        "legal_name": "Janet Marania Teyiaa",
        "slug": "janet-marania-teyiaa"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise to support this Motion. I do not want to repeat what my colleagues have said. The only thing I want to add relates to the work of the Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations, and more so the four ministries that we oversee – Defence, Foreign Affairs, East Africa Community and the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The NIS has not been affected by Supplementary Estimates I. The most affected are the Ministry of East Africa Community and Regional Development, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of East Africa Community and Regional Development has a pending bill of over Kshs6 billion whereas the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a pending bill of Kshs112 million. It is also good that when we have austerity measures, as much as they are applied across Government, we should consider the functions and activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I am talking to the Chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Government austerity measures always affect travel and hospitality. In foreign affairs, diplomacy is about travel and hospitality. Therefore, we should always try to exempt the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Budget cuts. Finally, I urge the Budget and Appropriations Committee, still on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that there is need to ring fence the Budget that is meant for this Ministry because at times we have unforeseen international conferences, like the one that just ended in Nairobi, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25). It is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which always caters for the costs of such conferences. At times when the nation is given the honour to host such international conferences, we find that we do not have provision for such activities in the original Budget. Therefore, the Supplementary Estimates need to consider such eventualities. I can see the Leader of the Majority Party saying we end. Because of time, I want to end there. I support the Committee’s decision with regard to the Development Votes of the Ministry of Defence and the National Intelligence Service, which have not been affected. However, the cuts on the Recurrent Expenditure that affects foreign travel for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of East Africa Community and Regional Development are about the region. Every time, we say that we are the economic bloc and the region kingpin. That Ministry is required to attend these conferences where decisions that affect the region are made. Therefore, such austerity measures should always take cognisant of the fact that those two ministries cannot operate without frequent travel and hospitality in diplomacy."
}