Musalia Mudavadi

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 121 to 130 of 1008.

• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Secondly, we are making it very clear that it is our intention to focus more on concessional borrowing where we are borrowing externally and shy away from commercial borrowing. This is particularly critical as we move along. The other thing is that we have to cut back and focus on our real priorities. You will recall that in the very early days of President Ruto’s Government, he made a pronouncement that he was cutting back about Ksh300 billion of expenditure programmes that were not regarded as priority expenditure. So, this programme of both fiscal consolidation of those that require enhanced ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, there is a question on how long it will take to recover. I want to be very honest to this House and the Kenyan people. Having had an opportunity to serve as a Minister for Finance before, in a moment of crisis, I want to state to the Kenyan people that we are in this for a long haul. The circumstances that we are in cannot be wished away like instant coffee. I have said this a number of times. We are going to focus on priorities, and have them sustained consistently and religiously. From a personal perspective, ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, there are some questions that have been raised about the non-tariff barriers. I may not have an immediate answer, but I think it is a very valid point. I will take it up with my colleagues in the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Public Works, so that we can have a holistic response to this at a later date. It is true that the non-tariff barriers are not just an obstacle to international trade, especially when they are in the arteries, but also to the local trade in the country. I do not know whether there is anything ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, I was going to come to that. Can I make a commitment that we will relay this particular concern to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development so that we can get a very accurate position on the aspect of compensation in Dongo Kundu? I agree that when we talk about production, we also need to support the farmer, and not just with fertiliser. I have said that there will be fertiliser for planting and top-dressing. The issue of seeds is a vital point. I can only commit that in the package to the farmers, the Government ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Thank you Hon. Speaker. Let me talk a little bit on the issue of energy because a number of Members have raised concerns on the cost of energy. In my statement, I said one of the things we are pushing is to open up the energy sector for more players to come in. So, we move away from having a club of a few players in this sector. I gave an example of the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) gas where we have more players coming in. I know the Government also set up a committee to look into the various ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: It is important to also know that we are diversifying as a nation by encouraging more investment in the geothermal sector so that we stop relying on rains. We need to rely less on hydro which takes very long to develop. We are increasing our capacity and potential in energy through a lot of investment in the geothermal, solar and wind areas. We hope that in the not- too-distant future, all these investments will come to bear and help reduce the cost of doing business in this country. This includes the cost of electricity which is critical in production in ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, allow me to highlight the following. If you look at, say, maize importation - it is actually on the table appearing in the written Statement that I have given - you will notice that in 2023, we may have about 2.4 million bags of maize, about 3.6 million bags of wheat, and about 4.8 million bags of rice coming in. Cumulatively, we are talking about 10.9 or 11 million bags of cereals that are coming in as staple food. We also project to import The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: close to 240 million bags of beans this year. This is a cycle and it is very important that when we engage in the import programme, we look at timely delivery of whatever is required; it should not coincide with the local harvest. On targeted distribution, we rely on a lot of good data from the Ministry of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands and the Ministry of Agriculture. They are able to map out very clearly which other areas are most needy. They have been doing well on this one. People who require food have been supported. In fact, over four ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: On a light not, I think it is important to say that when I served as Minister for Finance in 1992, one of the things that we had to do to trigger the economy and get it going again was to remove price controls. At that time, we were removing price controls in a very highly inflationary period and a very well-seasoned politician and elder of this country, the late Mzee Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, referred to my policies as ‘ill-advised’ policies. That was not a simple person speaking, but he said it was an ‘ill-advised’ policy. It was a kind ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Thank you, Hon. Speaker. Sorry, Mheshimiwa . Let me try and deal with that. You have a point. Whatever we do, we must be accountable. One of the things we want to pursue as Government… We normally talk about ‘whole of Government’ approach, but we also want to talk about ‘open government’ approach. In the open government approach, we want to make sure that the framework that we enter into shall be open. In my statement, I have said that there are agreements that have been signed and I have even given examples of those agreements. I am confident that ... view