Chrysanthus Barnabas Okemo

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 491 to 500 of 559.

• 25 Jun 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do not accept the statement by some of the hon. Members who have 1414 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 25, 2008 contributed here; that this is a Procedural Motion! It is not a Procedural Motion! Probably, it has been treated as one in the past. We come here and, as a matter of ritual, we are presented with half of the Printed Estimates. We pass them and say: "The Government can now go ahead and spend the money." That is not how it should be done. In fact, there is a very serious omission on the part of ... view
• 25 Jun 2008 in National Assembly: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Somewhere along the line, I lost Mr. Orengo's argument. If I listened clearly to what Mr. Imanyara said in amending the Motion, he did explicitly state that the figures in the schedule, which is actually the various Votes, will be adjusted by half. Now, how else other than him going to write on a piece of paper and coming to present it on the Floor of the House could he have possibly done it? To me, the effect of that is to amend each of the votes contained in the original schedule ... view
• 25 Jun 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I know that the Prime Minister now sits in the office I used to sit formerly, but that does not give him extra wisdom to understand finance matters. It is purely a point of sitting. view
• 25 Jun 2008 in National Assembly: 1420 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 25, 2008 view
• 25 Jun 2008 in National Assembly: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. None of the contributors from the other side of the House has come out to specifically state what aspect of the Constitution has been contravened. If you read the provision, it is very clear. In fact, it looks like the Prime Minister was implying that it must be 50 per cent. The Constitution says "not exceeding", which means it can range from zero to 50 per cent. If you want to talk about the Schedule, the amendment has already been made, and it specifies that the figures that are in the Schedule ... view
• 25 Jun 2008 in National Assembly: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Is it really in order for hon. Kosgey to imply that I am not able to make proper judgement in terms of whether to support this Motion or not, by saying that a person of my calibre should not have taken the position that I have taken? Hon. Kosgey knows - and I hope he knows - what a Vote on Account is. We are not opposing the Budget. We are not saying that we are denying the Government the money. We are saying that we want to give them a certain ... view
• 14 May 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand here to oppose the Motion of Adjournment. First, this is not a very normal Tenth Parliament, particularly if you look at the beginning. Therefore, we cannot begin to invoke tradition. I do not think tradition is relevant. First of all, we took a long time before we had a Cabinet. Secondly, Committees were only formed the other day. In fact, some have not even selected their chairpersons. So, we cannot go on holiday before we start working. In fact, the time for work is now. view
• 14 May 2008 in National Assembly: However, I understand the predicament in which the Government is. First of all, the House Business Committee (HBC) has completely failed to generate business for this House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are in an embarrassing situation where we have an Order Paper with two Questions on every single sitting day and Bills, which are supposed to go through the First Reading, Second Reading and the Committee Stage, being forced to happen on one occasion simply because we have no business. Not too long ago, the Minister for Finance came here and told us that he was seeking leave of ... view
• 14 May 2008 in National Assembly: There will be zero input! I have been the Minister for Finance and I can speak with confidence that there will be zero input. The Budget Speech is, for all practical purposes, ready. What is going on now is, probably, putting in a few finishing touches. The question of the grand coalition opposition is a reality we must live with. The 1048 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 14, 2008 Opposition has several functions in this House, one of which is to check the Government. The other, which may be difficult in our circumstances, is to have an alternative policy for the next ... view
• 14 May 2008 in National Assembly: Therefore, I would really like to appeal, particularly to the Government side, that we continue with the proceedings of this House until the Budget Speech is read by the Minister for Finance. Between now and that time, let us organise the Committees. Let us make sure the Committees are in place; they have an agenda and a programme that is going to last for the next 12 months. So, I would like to end by saying that the recess is not timely. This is not the time for the recess. view