Benson Makali Mulu

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 1181 to 1190 of 2344.

• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I want to add my voice in supporting this Report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. I would like to remind the House that this is the last Budget that we will pass as the 11th Parliament. There are realities in terms of the environment we are operating in which we must always keep in sight such as the political environment. We all appreciate the fact that as a result of this being a political year, we will have a bit of risks in terms of Budget implementation. What that means is that as we move ... view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: They are shouting at me. I am not used to this. view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, I was speaking about the budget-making medium term framework. Every financial year, we make a Budget for three years, which we call the rolling budget process. But you find that at any time, we are expected as a country to make sure that even as we implement the Budget for that particular year, we look at the estimates for the other two years. If you look at what we have been doing for the last four years, that is an area that we have also not done very well in. There are ceilings that we have put for ... view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: The other issue is the public debt. We agree that we have not gone beyond the red light in terms of public debt. We are starting to get a warning light that we are almost getting there. It is important as a country that we start thinking seriously about public debt. If you analyse the public debt, we have put a lot of money in the area of infrastructure. If you analyse the issue of creation of employment and economic growth, there are two areas which if we ignore as a country we will not go far, namely, agricultural and ... view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: The other area is payment of interest rates. If you look at paragraph 8, it says that this particular year, interest payable as well as redemptions is going to increase from Kshs466 billion to Kshs621 billion. In terms of payments, these are first charged to the Consolidated Fund. It means that you cannot even budget for any other thing before you get this payment out of the Budget. To some extent, it affects Budget flexibility. We are left with so little revenue that at the end of the day we are not able to meet our priorities or fund the ... view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: As we talk about public debt, the issue of paying interest rates - which we must pay because we have no choice - is another indicator which we need to monitor. Otherwise, as time goes on you will find that all we are collecting as local revenue, about 50 per cent, goes to pay interest and other items which are first charged to the Consolidated Fund. So, in that case, we will have no Budget. view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: Paragraph 9 talks about pension payments. Every year, we pay pensions to our retired officers. What is happening now is that as we pay these pensions which are also first charged to the Consolidated Fund, you realise that it will get to a level where it will be difficult to pay this. I suggest that the Government should immediately think about contributory pension schemes so that civil servants are able to contribute. With time, then they will draw from that fund which will be generated through their contribution so that we do not draw that from the general revenue collection. ... view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: On the issue of the budget deficit, when you look at the Budget Policy Statement, the projected amount was 6 per cent but, with this Budget, we have moved beyond that. It is important that even as we move forward, we think about re-prioritisation and rationalisation of the Budget to the extent that we are in the range of 6 per cent. The idea is that by 2022, the East African countries are expected to have a 4 per cent budget deficit. So, the more we start moving far from that, the more we are not adhering to our agreement ... view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: The other point is that when we went for public hearings, a number of things came up and it is important to highlight them. I know that the Chairman did not have time. One of them, which I think is very important, is the issue under the security docket, the so called village elders. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor. view
• 28 Mar 2017 in National Assembly: I am sure you know them even from your village. They are not paid any allowance. This House needs to help the Government to start paying some of these people some allowance. If that is done, it is going to improve security within our villages. They do a lot of work, but they are never paid by anybody. view