Rt. Hon.(Eng) Raila Amolo Odinga

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 111 to 120 of 1732.

• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Member for Samburu East said that the amounts are colossal and he feels that other services that the Government is supposed to render are suffering. First, I want him to understand that these figures are actually for the period from the time the Grand Coalition Government was formed to date. They are not for one financial year. We are talking about the period from 2008 to 2012. view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Secondly, I would want it known that before Ministers travel out of the country, they have to get clearance and approval from the President. Therefore, a Minister has to show that the trip that he or she is about to make has some benefits to the Government. He or she should show that he or she has been invited, or that there is official duty relevant to his or her Ministry that he or she is going to perform during that particular trip. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is only after such information has been provided that the President gives clearance ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: So, stopping Ministers from travelling abroad does not help this country. I do not think it is wise for a decision to be made arbitrarily to half the Government’s foreign travel budget. Doing so would not be helping the country. You will be tying the Minister here, but at the same time, you will be denying the country funds which such a Minister would have brought for the service of this country. Therefore, I would like to appeal that the Executive be allowed to use its discretion to clear those trips the way it has happened in the past, just ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Hon. Onyancha asked about the Members of Parliament who accompany the President, the Vice-President and the Prime Ministers on those tours, and said they are rewarded for loyalty. I can speak for myself that that is not true. I invite Members of Parliament once in a while when an occasion arises; I take Members from both sides of the coalition and not just from my side of the coalition. Hon. Mbuvi has applied--- view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: The hon. Member for Ainamoi wants us to give a budget breakdown per year. That information is available in the documents that I have already tabled before the House and he can scrutinize them. However, most of it is within the budgeted figure. In other words, money spent by Ministers in their travels are not in excess of the Budget which has been approved by this House. Therefore, the Ministers have not committed any crime by travelling when Parliament itself has approved those monies for travel by the Ministers. view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Hon. Khalwale wanted to know about the relevance of Ministers travelling abroad. Ministers travelling with the President or with the Prime Minister are usually those whose portfolios are affected by the trips. Recently, I went to China with the Minister for Transport, because he was going to talk about the Lamu Port. I travelled with the Minister for Finance. There was a conference going on there on China-Africa Cooperation Forum and we travelled together with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The President of China offered a 20-billion-dollar soft loan to African Governments and Kenya is going to be one of ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I travelled with the Minister for Regional Development Authorities because we were looking for funds for the Grand Falls Dam in Mutonga in Meru where we want to put up a 500 megawatt power generation plant. So, all these Ministers do not go on a joy ride. Right now, His Excellency the President is in London, for example, with a number of Ministers whom the hon. Member has mentioned. The President is not only there on a leisure tour. He is on a promotional tour. For the information of the hon. Member, yesterday, in fact, he opened ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, therefore, I would want to say in conclusion that no Government can work if it is isolated. See what is happening to North Korea for example. It is a pariah nation. We know what can happen, for example, if sanctions are applied against a country like Iran. This country must market itself. The Minister for Tourism travels abroad to go and market Kenya whenever he goes out of the country. The Minister for Water also needs to move around and negotiate with other countries. There are those who are giving this country loans but there are others ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, nobody--- The Vice- President does not go to campaign among the diaspora neither does the Prime Minister do that. It is standard practice that whenever a senior member of the Government is out there on official duty, Kenyans who live out there organise themselves and they want to be addressed by the visiting member of the Government. The President addressed Kenyans the day before yesterday in London. When I go to London, I am going to be addressing Kenyans next Saturday. I am going also to address other sets of investors in London. So, this is not ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Budget is usually approved by this House. When the Minister brings here the Budget, the Budget Statement has the figures of the previous year’s Budget. The figures of what was voted are always there. What is not there usually is what was spent and what was not. What is not spent is all the time re-voted in the figures of the next Budget. The current figures include what was not spent and what is going to be raised as revenue in the course of that financial year. That is usually the actual figure. view