Benson Makali Mulu

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 2221 to 2230 of 2344.

• 5 Mar 2014 in National Assembly: So, with those remarks--- view
• 5 Mar 2014 in National Assembly: Yes. I think I am being given the right words here. I will support it with amendments. I think those are the right terminologies. So, I will be proposing some amendments. view
• 5 Mar 2014 in National Assembly: So, thank you very much, hon. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Bill. view
• 26 Feb 2014 in National Assembly: Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I want to start by thanking your Office or the Chair for making sure that those of us who struggle to come here early, get the opportunity to contribute. view
• 26 Feb 2014 in National Assembly: Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to support this Bill. I want to thank hon. Lati for moving it. That is because the framers of our Constitution 2010 were really very focused in terms of what they wanted to achieve with the Equalization Fund. When you look at Article 204 of the Constitution, it is stated that the Fund is targeted to the marginal areas so that they are assisted to attain the same level of development with the rest of the country. We all recognize the fact that this country has gone through what I would call historical inequalities ... view
• 26 Feb 2014 in National Assembly: For example, when we attained Independence, the Government at that time decided to focus on what I will call “economic growth” and there was minimal interest in what I will call “regional balancing”. So, what happened as a result of that strategy was that some regions became very developed while others were not. This was continued by subsequent strategies. Things like settlement schemes where a majority of Kenyans were moved were created, especially in rich agricultural areas, so that production could be improved. As a result then, some areas became developed while others were not. That is why you see ... view
• 26 Feb 2014 in National Assembly: there might be need to review this 0.5 per cent, which is allocated to the Equalization Fund; it is too low. This is because such areas are many in this country, and if we want to have any impact, we need to make sure that resources are properly targeted. view
• 26 Feb 2014 in National Assembly: Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the importance of the Equalization Fund from where I stand is that we also need to think seriously about which areas are benefiting. This is because if you look at what the Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA) has done, they have identified only 14 counties which are supposed to benefit this financial year. I am very surprised that my county, Kitui, is not among the 14. If you ask any Kenyan, even the ones living in Turkana, they will tell you that Kitui is one of the marginalized counties in this country. So, I think the ... view
• 26 Feb 2014 in National Assembly: I want to give you an example of what happens. We are all aware that the Chairperson of the CRA, Mr. Cheserem, visited Kitui County late last year and he was reported in the print media as having cried after seeing one of the primary schools and the kind of environment the children were learning in. This was a clear demonstration that this county requires to be focused on. What I am saying is that even as we think about this fund, let us think about proper targeting. I like the idea of moving this money from Nairobi to the ... view
• 26 Feb 2014 in National Assembly: I want to give an example. If you read the Public Expenditure Review Survey, which has been done by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health, it has been confirmed that out of every Ksh100 released in Nairobi targeting districts, it is only about 30 per cent which gets to the districts. The rest of the money disappears through the administrative structure. So, what are we saying? We are saying that the more you retain the money in Nairobi, and as the money goes down to the districts, the more you lose it, not to the target group ... view