Dr. Oburu Odinga

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 291 to 300 of 1650.

• 14 Jun 2023 in Senate: I am not speaking for the Chairman. He will speak for himself. Personally, as a Member who is very passionate about these issues, I am very sure that we are going to do the needful. We are not going to leave this issue hanging because we are all interested in the solutions. I thank you. view
• 14 Jun 2023 in Senate: Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity. I would like to start by thanking Sen. Tabitha Mutinda for bringing this important Bill. It is always said that agriculture is the backbone of the economy of our country. However, when it comes to allocation of resources, agriculture is ignored. In the Malabo Declaration that Kenya ratified, it was agreed that African countries should allocate at least 10 per cent of their budgets to agriculture. However, in our country, agriculture gets about 4 or 5 per cent. We have not moved closer to the 10 per cent Malabo Declaration and ... view
• 14 Jun 2023 in Senate: The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate. view
• 14 Jun 2023 in Senate: What is more important as far as I am concerned is, the employment of agricultural extension officers by the county governments. These officers need to be employed by the Government and they need to offer services to the people down there free of charge. This is because our people are poor and cannot afford payment for these services. Madam, Sen. Tabitha Mutinda, I hope you will take that into consideration. I can see you have emphasised more on the Board but not the role of the counties and yet agriculture is devolved. You have even put the role of the ... view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to welcome these young people to the Senate. It is an honour that they chose to come to the Senate to learn about legislation and the leadership of this country. It is advisable that when young people come here, we give them words of encouragement. I would like to encourage them to adapt the principles of hard work and discipline. Discipline is one of the cardinal principals of success in the life of young people. If you are not disciplined and you do not obey your teachers and parents, you ... view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker for the opportunity. I do not want to say much on this Bill, but it is one of the most important Bills that should be discussed by this Senate. I am not very happy that the Senate is not full. Having said that, I would like to dissuade my colleagues in the Senate from the notion that there was an increment in allocation to counties from Kshs370 billion to Ksh385 billion. There is money in real terms and money in nominal terms. When you talk of money in real terms, you must look at the ... view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: Even if you do not want to increase, at least, increase to the extent that you cover the inflationary trends in the country. The Kshs15 billion which we increased and passed here to Kshs385 billion from Kshs370billion was only 4 per cent increment of the budget yet the projected inflation was standing at about 9.2 per cent. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: That means that there was a difference of about 5 per cent which translates to more than Kshs20 billion. In actual sense, you reduced the allocation to the counties by more than Kshs20 billion. From Kshs370 billion it must have gone down to less than Kshs350 billion in terms of the real terms of money instead of the nominal. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: Madam Temporary Speaker, that is something we are not debating now because it was already passed. I would like to speak to delayed disbursement. When you delay disbursement to the counties it means that the national Government is giving very little priority to the county governments. It was contemplated. I do not know why it is not explicitly stated, that in every shilling collected, the share of the county must be set aside. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: It should not be the discretion of the national Government to decide when to and not to pay the counties. They should deduct the county portion and put it aside and remain with theirs, which is huge. They can play with theirs as much as they like but not gamble with the one for the counties. Gambling with counties’ money is making Government services very expensive. In the counties, a lot of credible businesspeople have stopped doing business with the counties. This is because counties do not pay. Sometimes, it takes long for the money to be paid. You find ... view