Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to ask the Minister for Transport the following Question by Private Notice. (a) What caused the breakdown of the pilot boat at the Port of Mombasa on 27th July, 2009, that resulted in the failure of ships to berth? (b) Could he state the number of vessels that delayed berthing because of the failure? (c) How much revenue did the Government lose as a result of the failure? (d) What measures has the Kenya Ports Authority taken to ensure that all the pilot boats are serviceable at all times and that similar incidents do not recur?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. (a) The breakdown of the pilot boat which occurred on 27th July, 2009 was one of the odd cases where all the pilot boats developed mechanical problems attributed to the generator on board. (b) The number of vessels that delayed berthing because of the breakdown of the pilot boats was six. (c) The Government did not lose any revenue as a result of the delay because the pilot services were provided by patrol boats. (d) The Kenya Ports Authority has ordered a new set of generators to replace the faulty ones on the pilot boats. It is also budgeting for the acquisition of additional new pilot boats.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the reason why I asked this Question was because of the importance of the Port and its operations. It cannot be true that out of the six boats, five boats failed and there was no inconvenience or costs incurred.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, ships carry goods which are eventually offloaded. There are businesses which are involved and you cannot say that the Government did not lose any revenue because of the delay! I would like the Assistant Minister to take this issue seriously and give this House and the country a proper answer to this Question.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I appreciate the concern of the hon. Member. It is true that the Government is not supposed to lose revenue. It is also important that the ships that come into this country are given priority and do not delay in berthing. But, sometimes, there are some things that you call “acts of God”. That was a one-off case where two of the boats developed serious mechanical problems and, actually, the engine of one of them was overhauled. But I can confirm to this House that the Kenya Ports Authority has floated a tender to buy new mooring boats. It has also floated another tender to get a maintenance company that will maintain the boats as and when it is required.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, this Assistant Minister is very conversant with issues concerning the Port. He is one of the principal players in that field. Could he confirm here that the lives of those boats have actually expired? If not, how many years does a boat take to expire? If they have expired, why is KPA continuously using those old boats which are breaking down now and then and costing the Government more money in terms of servicing, instead of grounding them and buying new boats?

Order, Mr. K. Kilonzo. Before you take your seat, you have asked three questions. You are allowed one supplementary question. So, which question do you want the Assistant Minister to answer?

Clearly, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want the Assistant to confirm to this House that the lifespan of those boats has actually expired.

That is fair enough. Proceed, Mr. Mwau!

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I only beg to differ a little bit with the hon. Member. An engine of a boat can be rebuilt and it is serviceable. However, I would agree with the hon. Member that, due to the age of the boats, they need to be replaced. That is why the KPA has budgeted to buy new boats during this Financial Year.

Order, Mr. Assistant Minister! That question appeared to be very precise; has the life of those boats expired?

No, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I thought the Assistant Minister has said that the life of that boat has expired and that is why they have actually provided funds to buy new boats. He is now saying that the life of those boats has not expired. Then, what is the reason of buying new boats?

Order! That is not a valid point of order! In his answer, the Assistant Minister has not even said that the life of those boats has expired. That is really a matter of argument. Is there anybody else interested? Ask your last question, Mr. Chanzu!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the last part of the Question, it appears as if the Ministry does fire fighting instead of doing what it is supposed to do regularly. What has the Ministry done to fast track this process so that we avoid this happening in the near future?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have already said that the Ministry has floated a tender for maintenance---

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I understood what the Assistant Minister has said. Floating a tender could take years. Is he in order to tell this House that he has floated a tender? How long will he take to put this in place?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, procurement in Government departments is a statutory process. There is no way it can be accelerated beyond the time span that the statute requires.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. When it is a case of emergency, and this is where the Government keeps failing, he cannot talk about a statutory process. We are saying that the Government is losing money. What is a statutory process in this affair? Why does the Assistant Minister wait for procurement officers to mislead us all the time? Could he act, as a Ministry?

Order, Mr. Chanzu! I have heard you express yourself. You have not pointed out anything that is out of order! You have instead asked further questions and argued with the Assistant Minister’s answer. So, Mr. Assistant Minister, you need not to respond!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to ask the Minister of State for Defence the following Question by Private Notice. (a) Could the Minister confirm that Sudanese soldiers are currently occupying parts of Kenyan territory and explain the circumstances under which they recently stopped the Minister for Immigration and Registration of Persons from accessing the Kenyan border with Sudan? (b) What urgent measures is the Minister taking to ensure that the Sudanese soldiers vacate Nadapal border point, which is 1 kilometre into Kenyan territory?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have communicated to the House as well as to my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. We are of the view that this Question should have been directed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I understand that you communicated that concern to the Speaker’s Office, but by the time your letter came, the Order Paper was already printed. Could you ensure, in future, that requests to defer Questions or re-direct them are made timeously, at least, two days before the due date? All other Ministers, please, note that. We have too many requests coming at the eleventh hour and it is difficult to operationalise those requests in those circumstances. So, this Question is deferred until Tuesday, next week, because it is being re- directed to a new Ministry. Dr. Eseli, please bear with the House until Tuesday, next week.

asked the Minister for Education:- (a) to state the Ministry’s policy on the School Feeding Programme (SFP); (b) what effect the current programme has on the Free Primary Education (FPE) in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas (ASAL); and, (c) whether the programme was piloted prior to its implementation.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. (a) The Ministry has no policy on SFP. However, the National School Health Policy (NSHP) which was launched on 5th August, 2009 provides a comprehensive school health programme geared towards achieving better health for school children. Further, the National Food Security and Nutrition Policy (NFSNP) provides an overarching framework for food security, nutrition, nutrition education and hunger reduction for enhancing the SFP. (b) The SFP has increased school enrolment, motivated parents, reduced hunger and malnutrition, activated life, boosted learning concentration and improved performance in the ASAL districts, Nairobi and Mombasa slums. (c) The SFP was never piloted before it was implemented due to the Government emergency response to the 1979 drought that seriously affected school enrolment, attendance and learning. The Government requested the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide mid-day meals to school children in drought affected ASAL districts to alleviate hunger and encourage learning.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. You have heard the Assistant Minister clarify and confirm that there is no existing policy on the SFP particularly in the ASAL areas. However, could he clarify the current homegrown model of the SFP which forces schools to buy food? What does the Ministry do in areas where there is serious shortage of food?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have two SFPs. One is sponsored by the WFP, while the other one is called “homegrown” where the Government of Kenya and the Japanese Government provide money to schools so that they can buy food which is grown locally or from the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Last year, the Ministry of Education and the WFP had targeted to feed 1.39 million children at mid-day. The purpose is to enhance retention, attention and improve nutrition. Could the Assistant Minister tell this House how many children are under the SFP up to now, bearing in mind that we have had drought and famine in the entire country?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the number of children fed today under the two SFPs which I have mentioned above is 1,618,466.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in view of the current drought, could the Assistant Minister consider expanding the number of schools in the ASAL areas under the SFP? This is because some schools which were under the SFP two years ago were removed from the programme.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is the wish of the Ministry of Education to bring more schools under this SFP, but the problem is lack of resources. We are, however, trying our level best to make sure that we bring all schools in the affected areas under this programme.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, this problem is not only felt in the ASAL areas. Even in areas like Trans Nzoia, we have rampant poverty and many squatters. Children are forced to go and weed the farms. These children drop out of school due to lack of food. What has the Ministry done to curb this situation and retain these children in school?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will repeat the same answer. I have said before that the Ministry is concerned about poverty and hunger that makes children drop out of school and prevent them from going to school despite the fact that we have free primary and secondary education. The Ministry, in collaboration with the developed partners, will try as much as possible to expand the Programme.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, out of the money that the Government has released to take care of the current food crisis, how much will go towards the SFP?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, could the hon. Member repeat the question?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the question I have asked the good Assistant Minister is: Out of the money that the Government has released to take care of the current food crisis, how much will go towards the SFP?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the amount of money that we will use under the SFP is as follows. Under the “homegrown” SFP, which is sponsored by the Government of Kenya and the Japanese Government, we will spend Kshs539,995,790.

Under the World Food Programme (WFP) School Feeding Programme, the WFP is spending---

Assistant Minister, that is not optimum utilization of time!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the WFP is giving us food, and not money. So, I could give what they are giving us in terms of metric tonnes, and not in Kenya Shillings.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Is the Assistant Minister in order to mislead this House? I am not asking about what the WFP is giving us. I am not talking about the amount of money that is being given by the Government. Of that money, how much is going to the School Feeding Programme (SFP)? That is my question.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I indicated to him a minute ago, the amount of money that the Ministry is spending on the SFP.

Fair enough!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, since the Ministry has no policy on the SFP, how do they intend to sustain this programme?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we intend to sustain it. We have been sustaining it through funds from the Government itself and development partners.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, as the Assistant Minister said, there is no policy on SFP in this country, yet the poverty levels in the country are very high even without what

Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is no plan of coming up with such a policy. As I have indicated, the National School Health Policy, and the National Food Security and Nutrition Policy are taking care of that programme adequately. There is no point of duplication of policies.

Last question, Mr. Mwaita!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would want the Assistant Minister to clarify how much money is spent per pupil per month. How much money has the Ministry set aside for the feeding of a pupil per month?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I did not do that arithmetic before I came here.

Next Question, Mr. Warugongo!

asked the Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security:- (a) why he has not paid service and pension benefits to Mr. Joseph Muturi Kagwi (P/No.371347), who retired on 1st December, 1997; and, (b) when he will pay him.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I request for more time to provide an answer to this Question, because the answer I have is not satisfactory.

When will you be ready?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will be ready on Wednesday, next week.

Mr. Warugongo!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think the Assistant Minister is doing quite a lot to come to the end of this Question. So, I have no problem with waiting until Wednesday.

Fair enough! It is directed that the Question be answered on Wednesday, next week.

Next Question, Dr. Wilbur Otichilo!

asked the Minister for Medical Services what plans he has to renovate the dilapidated buildings and provide an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facility and a CT scanning machine at Kakamega Provincial General Hospital.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply.

In the current financial year 2009/2010, the Ministry will repair leaking roofs, upgrade piping for medical gasses and prepare sites for installation of new medical equipment at Kakamega Provincial General Hospital at a cost of Kshs12.5 million. In the same period, the hospital will receive various medical equipment and plants worth Kshs76.7 million under a programme to equip 23 hospitals funded by the Netherlands Government.

As regards the ICU, the Ministry plans to complete refurbishment of an identified building and supply the necessary equipment and staff to make it operational in the next financial year 2010/2011.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, due to a limited Development Budget stretched by demands to upgrade provision of priority basic and specialised services in many hospitals, including Kakamega Provincial General Hospital, the Ministry is not able to provide a CT scanner to the hospital in the short-term. Consideration will be given to this matter when the funding situation improves. In the meantime, the hospital is still utilising the facilities in Nyanza Provincial Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital under the Ministry’s referral strategy. This is not a situation we are very happy with. If funds were available, a CT scanner is necessary equipment that this hospital needs.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to thank the Minister for giving me a very comprehensive answer to this Question. However, I am very concerned that the provincial hospital in a province like Western, with a population of over 6 million, has no ICU facility. In his answer, the Minister said that they will consider providing the same facilities in the next financial year. I would like him to confirm what is going on. Could he tell the House how much money has been allocated for the preparation of these facilities, so that come the end of this financial year, we can have an ICU facility at Kakamega for Western Province?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I doubt very much that Western Province has 6 million. However, that notwithstanding, we have started refurbishing a building to put in an ICU. That refurbishment will continue .We will factor in a proper Budget next year to complete the ICU. This is an undertaking I am giving the hon. Member. I am not just about to take him down the street of deceit.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we know that funds are never enough in Government circles. It is important that the Government seeks funding even from development partners. Time and again, we hear them say that they are looking for money from development partners. The financial year 2010/2011 is another time altogether. Could they consider looking for funding from development partners, so that they can fund such important facilities?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, that is precisely what I said at the beginning – that Kakamega Provincial General Hospital is one of the 23 hospitals

Mr. Washiali!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, availability of oxygen is a standard requirement in all hospitals. Therefore, that should have been a standard requirement at Kakamega Provincial Hospital. Yesterday, we lost an accident victim from Mumias Constituency. This person died because the hospital did not have oxygen to support him up to Eldoret Referral Hospital. What is the Ministry doing to make sure that oxygen is available in this hospital?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the hon. Member is dead right. The best situation would be that every provincial hospital as a referral facility should not only have provision of oxygen, but also its own oxygen processing unit. We have an oxygen processing unit at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital which also supplies oxygen to a number of hospitals in Western Province. We intend to put six oxygen concentrators at the Kakamega Provincial Hospital during this financial year to serve that vicinity. In the end, we intend to do what we have done at Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Referral Hospital to make sure that Kakamega and Kisumu hospitals and other referral hospitals have their own oxygen processing plants, so that they can supply the sub-district and health centres under them with oxygen cylinders.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we know most of the buildings at the hospital are highly dilapidated. It is a pity that the Minister has only allocated Kshs12.5 million for their refurbishment. Is it possible for him to consider allocating more money during the supplementary estimates to this hospital, so that these buildings and equipment can be refurbished?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I doubt very much whether we can do that through the supplementary budget. If Parliament so wishes, it can direct the Treasury to give us that money to do the necessary work at Kakamega Provincial hospital.

Hon. Members, at the request of the Member for Butula, Question No.219 is deferred to Thursday this week. Hon. Members, please, note that just like I have directed the Cabinet, any request for deferment of Questions or Statements has to be made at least two days before the due date. The request by the Member for Butula was

asked the Minister for Roads if he could urgently consider constructing foot bridges at Kimende Township and Nyambari Trading Centre, considering that about 38 pedestrians have been knocked down and killed by speeding motor vehicles.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply.

My Ministry is deeply concerned about the safety of both pedestrians and motorists, given that improvement of the road network has not translated into a commensurate reduction in road accidents.

I am aware of the motor vehicle accidents around Kimende and Nyambari Trading Centres, some of which have resulted into loss of human lives. I have, therefore, as an immediate measure, instructed my officers to install appropriate road signs and markings near the two centres in order to caution both pedestrians crossing the road as well as the speeding motorists. In addition, my Ministry is continuously monitoring all accident spots with a view to instituting the most appropriate measures to prevent the occurrence of the accidents.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also wish to table a list of the accidents we have had there in these two sections for the last three years.

In 2007, we had 21 fatal cases, 40 serious injuries and 34 slight injuries. In 2008, we had 29 fatal cases, 24 serious injuries and 47 slight injuries.

In the first eight months of 2009, we had 19 fatal cases, 24 serious injuries and 44 slight injuries. It is obvious that the number of accidents is on the rise. My Ministry will do everything possible together with the community there to ensure that we stop this trend.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, while I appreciate the response given by the Assistant Minister, I urge him to note with a degree of seriousness that we have lost many people along this Nyambari-Kimende Road through accidents. In 2007, we had 21 deaths at Nyambari. In 2008, we had 29 deaths. Within the first 8 months this year, we have lost 29 people. Is the Ministry serious and concerned about the loss of this number of innocent people, whose lives have been wasted along this road?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, there may not be a direct question arising from the hon. Member, but I also wish to add that we have been trying to conduct a survey in

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it has become a trend in places where foot bridges have been built for pedestrians to pass under them. What is the Ministry doing to ensure that pedestrians cross the roads using foot bridges throughout the country? The Ministry should also consider deploying---

Order, Mr. Mbugua. You have asked one question.

I beg your indulgence, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

No, this is time for supplementary questions.

Proceed, Mr. Assistant Minister.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I hope I have understood the question well. I wish to say that it is quite obvious that most of the foot brides that we have built are not actually being used by our people, partly because of insecurity. There are certain parts of this country where foot bridges have been built, but if you use them, you do so, at your own risk. So, I think there are many issues involved. We, as a Ministry, want to do an awareness campaign because our safety and that of the people around us, is everybody’s responsibility. The Ministry cannot enforce or come up with laws that will stop people from crossing the road at dangerous spots. It is a matter that calls for everybody’s efforts, including the police and members of the public in general.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, given the fact that the number of people dying per year because of road accident is increasing, would the Assistant Minister agree with me that one of the quickest ways of resolving this issue is the immediate re-introduction of the “Michuki rules” to reduce over speeding on the roads.

Mr. Speakers, Sir, I agree with the hon. Member that the “Michuki rules” substantially reduced the number of accidents in the country, especially with regard to speed limits. If drivers were to drive at acceptable limits, then the possibility of accidents is greatly reduced. I want to concur with the hon. Member that the re-introduction of the “Michuki rules” would definitely bring a remarkable reduction. Clearly that does not fall within my Ministry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Since Kimende Town was there when the road was being constructed, I take it that it was an error in design and planning. Could the Assistant Minister confirm when they are going to correct the error? When are they going to construct this particular foot bridge?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it may not be very accurate to say that there was an error in the design. At the time when the road was built, the population in that particular area was not as high as it is today. Therefore, at that time, the concerns were

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the number of times this Assistant Minister takes to answer questions relating to erection of road bumps and foot bridges, it is just amazing. Taking into consideration the fact that when roads are being constructed, it must be anticipated that the population in the market centres will increase, what is the policy of the Ministry in designing foot bridges and making them part of the road designs and not ad hoc solutions?

I agree with the hon. Member that there is need for us, every time we want to construct a road, to also take into account the pedestrians and other road users. If you look at the roads that have been done recently, including even here in Nairobi, we are doing the foot paths, the foot bridges and all the other appendages that are required. But this road was done in the 1960s and the concerns then were different. But all roads that are being designed today are taking into consideration the issues raised by the hon. Member.

Since the Assistant Minister has agreed that indeed there have been two or three fatal accidents, and as we are speaking right now, we have one dead person at Kijabe and another one critically injured, could he consider providing a footbridge to contain further injuries along this road? If action is not taken immediately, it is likely the entire human traffic on that road will be eliminated and by the time the Ministry decides to come, all the people would have been finished along this road. Could the Assistant Minister be serious now?

We appreciate and sympathize with members of the public who lost their lives or have been injured in this section of the road. However, our Ministry operates on a limited budget. We may not be able to put up foot bridges when they have not been budgeted for. But I want to assure this House that as soon as funds are available, we will ensure that this section of the road is provided with the necessary foot bridge to reduce road accidents.

Fair enough. Next Order! Are there any Statements ready for today? There are a number pending, two from the Ministry of Lands. The Assistant Minister for Lands, you have two statements which have been pending since July, 2009. Any response from the Ministry of Lands? Hon. Bifwoli, since you appear not to have been present though physically here, could you, please, check to see that Statements which were due in July, 2009 are prepared and brought to the House?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I had even written to the administration in the Ministry of Lands and they had no information. We have agreed with Mr. Wamalwa that I issue the Statement on Tuesday next week.

Fair enough! Mr. Wamalwa sought two statements. Next Statement, Mr. Samoei!

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to make two very brief statements. I want to make a statement on the progress that we have so far made on the Privatization of the Public Sector owned sugar companies. The sugar subsector supports approximately six million Kenyans. It is a major source of income to these Kenyans. Following the launch of the free trade area, on 31st October, 2000 by members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Kenya, due to the state of unpreparedness of the sugar industry, applied for protection of the sector by way of safeguards under Article 61 of the COMESA Treaty. The safeguard was granted for a period of four years from the end of 2008 and is due to expire in 2012. As part of this requirement, the country is expected inter alia to undertake very viable steps towards the privatization of the public owned mills by November, 2009. So far, the following steps and actions have been undertaken: - On 11th of December, 2008, I laid on the Table the privatization programme in the Cabinet and it was approved. On 20th May, 2009, we signed a contract with a consultancy firm, Ernst and Young consortium. The Privatization Commission signed on behalf of the government. On 2nd July, 2009, the consultant’s inception Report was presented to the Privatization Commission outlining the key issues and project time table. On 21st to 23rd of July, 2009, the Privatization Commission and members of the sugar companies made a familiarization visit and had meetings with the Boards of Directors’ Management and leaders of out growers associations. I expect to receive a due diligence report by the consultants on 1st September, 2009, for onward transmission to the Cabinet, detailing the works that are going on now, operational, financial, legal and technical analysis. We have reduced the due diligence from six months to two months. There is also assessment of financial, technical, agricultural and human resource needs of each sugar company. We have also embarked on a detailed analysis of alternative privatization approaches and preparation of recommendations on the best option to mobilize the required resources. Lastly, there is a detailed preparation of restructuring proposals for each of the sugar companies, including proposals for write off of excess debt. I will just list briefly the time table that is going to guide this exercise from when I receive the due diligence report. On 27th October, 2009, we expect to submit enterprise analysis and due diligence reports, market research reports, social economic reports, restructuring plans and indicative valuations. During the same month, we expect to submit the same proposals, a privatization strategy and method report. We also intend to submit the proposed amendments to the relevant laws, memoranda and articles of association and other company documents during the same month of October. This will be necessary to facilitate the smooth privatization of the various public owned sugar companies. I intend to submit a detailed privatization proposal to the Cabinet in November this year. The same month, after the Cabinet has gone through the proposal, I intend to Table a Sessional Paper on write-off of excess debt and amendments of Acts of Parliament, to this House. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also intend to submit a valuation report and reserve price for consideration. In January next year, we intend to do the pre-qualification exercise for bids of the various sugar factories. In February the same year, we intend to submit revised

No, you are not!

Just give me two minutes, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Who are the Members interested in seeking clarifications? Mr. Linturi, please, proceed!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, could the Minister clarify whether in his view it is prudent to privatize these sugar companies at this time when most of them are running or operating at very serious deficits? If this is to happen, which specific sugar companies is he referring to?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, could the Minister clarify that in the process of privatization of these companies the out-grower farmers of these companies, for example, Nzoia Sugar Company, will be given priority in buying the shares?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, could the Minister clarify that in the process of privatization, a company that employs so many Kenyans and can control or manage the economy of this country should be privatized in such a way that resources are distributed

By reason of the constituency you represent, we will make the exception and allow Mr. Washiali to seek clarification.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Minister for what he is doing for the sugar sector. In the process of privatizing the sugar factories, could the Minister encourage the companies to go into producing industrial sugar? In this year’s Budget, the Minister for Finance decided to remove SDL on imported or industrial sugar. This is something we are going to contest. However, in view of the Minister privatizing the sugar companies, could he encourage them to go into production of industrial sugar?

Mr. Minister, you may now respond!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, starting with the last Member, I want to tell him that the privatization of these sugar companies is informed by diversification of the products that come out of the sugar factories. The reason we are privatizing these sugar companies is because we want them to be competitive. Part of the competition will be in product diversification, including what the Member has said; production of industrial sugar. So, companies and investors who will be prepared to broaden or expand product base will have an edge over those who would want to produce the traditional products that are already in the market. To answer the other questions, yes, the farmers will not only have a special place but will also have preferential shares that will be set aside for them. We do not want a situation where farmers are reduced to mere producers. We want the farmers to participate even as investors in their own sugar companies in areas of their locality. This exercise will equally be informed by the input of this House when the Sessional Paper comes. We will ensure that the interest of Members here, as representatives of the sugar cane growers, is taken into account. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there could not have been a better time to privatize the sugar companies. In fact, this privatization process is ten years behind schedule. That is why we have asked for safeguards. If we did not ask for safeguards, all our sugar companies would have collapsed because they were not in a position to compete with sister sugar companies in the COMESA countries. Therefore, there is only one direction to go; that is, to make our sugar companies competitive by ensuring that we broaden their product base and do co-generation and product diversification and bring in the expertise of the private sector into the management of sugar companies. Those are the issues that were raised.

Fair enough. Hon. Members, the Ministerial Statement by the Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security will be deferred to Thursday because the sponsor of the request is not in the House and he did not have notice that it would be ready today. We will move on and take requests.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. There was a Statement from the Minister of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs who happens to be here. I think he is ready with the statement.

Order! Fair enough! But this is a Supply Day. We are supposed to go to the next order not later than 3.30 p.m. If we have any reason to exceed those 10 minutes, then we should not do so by more than 10 minutes. Hon. M. Kilonzo, I do not know how long you had prepared to take.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. My Statement is six pages of widely spaced material---

You cannot do a six page document in 10 minutes! However, hard you try; I know that, that is not possible!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I appreciate that. I just wanted to be honest with you. The Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector (GJLOS) Reform Programme is such a critical thing in this country. I would rather do this with sufficient time.

Can we give it special time and do that on Tuesday next week?

Much obliged, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have had an outstanding matter with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance regarding external debts. I have been given undertakings on two occasions that these would be provided. Now that the Minister is in the House, could he indicate when these will be provided?

Mr. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, this matter has been pending for some time, according to my records.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if I recall well the meeting we had in your office on this matter, we agreed that external debts are contained in the audited accounts that we produce. There is no other per se debt register except the individual debt record available at the Treasury as I explained. Unless I brought a whole two rooms of documents, it is impossible to bring that forward. I seek your guidance on this matter because we deliberated at great length.

I can recall that matter. However, we want the records to be settled in some form because this request had been made earlier by Mr. Imanyara. Mr. Imanyara, could you indicate what you had in mind when you raised this matter?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I appreciate the meeting we had. However, it was not in respect to only supplying the information but to allow the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance sufficient time to concentrate on the Budget. What is contained in the Controller and Auditor-General’s Report are extracts. I am asking for the actual figures, no matter how many. He could even indicate to me when they will be

Fair enough! Mr. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, could you indicate when these records could be made available?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will have no problem. Any time at the convenience of the hon. Member, we can just make arrangements with the Debt Department and he can avail himself---

Could you make them available effective Thursday this week?

Not before the House but at the Treasury---

At your offices!

Perfect! That is possible!

Hon. Imanyara, as soon as you have extracted the requisite information, if there is something you want to share with the House, please, lay your findings on the Table.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I welcome the invitation. I will be there on Thursday together with my advisers, as I said.

Thursday afternoon beginning from 2.30pm.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand on a point of order to request for a Ministerial Statement from the Minister for Transport and Communications on the effects of the strike that has just been concluded by the Kenya Airways staff, the national carrier. First of all, on the staff, these are highly qualified and skilled staff. Some of them have earned international awards. Could the Minister confirm or deny that the staff of the Kenya Airways are being paid in accordance with international standards? Could he lay on the Table the collective bargaining agreement that has been reached recently? Could he confirm in this House that none of the workers who participated in the industrial action will be victimized? Finally, what were the losses incurred by the investors of Kenya Airways, the national carrier? What is the profitability status of Kenya Airways as it stands today? What is the Minister doing to avert such ugly industrial action in future involving the national carrier?

Minister for Transport, when can you avail that Statement?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in response to your question, I would like to make a point of clarification.

It is a request for a Ministerial Statement and he has identified eight areas that he wants you to deal with.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me to make a clarification so that the hon. Member may decide. One, industrial relation matters have nothing to do with the Minister for Transport in this context. It is the Ministry of Labour which is in charge of Industrial Relations

Fair enough! Mr. Minister, with regard to the directions you seek, I direct as follows. First, that Statement pertains to a matter of great national importance. You are under duty to inform Kenyans what transpired, what led to the strike and how you are dealing with the consequences of the strike. Mr. Minister, you will have to find information wherever you can, invoking the doctrine of collective responsibility. You can find issues pertaining to the strike from the Ministry of Labour. It is the expectation of the Chair that Ministers are holistic in their approach to their various duties.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, your orders are accepted without question. The Ministerial Statement will be issued on Thursday.

Fair enough! It is ordered that the Ministerial Statement will be issued on Thursday.

Yes, Mr. Olago!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to seek a Ministerial Statement from the hon. Attorney-General on the state of international instruments which have been ratified by our Government. I am doing this because when I made an effort to get these details from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I was told that they only have half of the instruments and the other half is with the Attorney-General who told me the same thing. The Ministerial Statement I am seeking should address the following issues:- 1. The list of all international instruments that have been ratified by our Government; 2. The list of international instruments which have been ratified and also domesticated by our Parliament; and, 3. The action the hon. Attorney-General will take to ensure that Parliament’s approval is sought and obtained before the Government commits our country to the international instruments.

Fair enough! The Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, could you give an undertaking on behalf of the Attorney-General?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I undertake that I will alert the Attorney-General.

When?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will request him to issue the Ministerial Statement on Tuesday, next week.

On Wednesday, next week!

Fair enough, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Let us move on to the next Order! Hon. Members, please note that we will continue sitting until 9.40 p.m.

Yes, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the Speaker do now leave the Chair. May I take this early opportunity to thank the House and Members of Parliament for affording us the opportunity to move the Vote for the Ministry of Finance. Further, I thank the Chair and the Members of the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade for having constructively discussed this Vote when I presented the same before them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, before I present to the House the Ministry of Finance Budget for 2009/2010 Fiscal Year, allow me, as a guide, to give the mandate of the Ministry as set out in its Vision, which is; “To be a world class institution in economic and financial management.” To realise this Vision the Ministry has set its Mission which is; “The creation of an enabling environment for accelerated sustained economic growth through pursuit of prudent economic, fiscal and monetary policies and co- ordination of Government financial operations.” Mr. Speaker, Sir, during the period under review, the Ministry in collaboration with stakeholders and with a view to enhancing financial management in the public sector, carried out a number of reforms under the following key areas. (a) Tax modernization. (b) Public expenditure and financial management. (c) Procurement. (d) Privatization and parastatal management. (e) Competition policy and law. (f) Financial sector restructuring and management.

Who is seconding?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to second. First, I would like to commend the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, for a very wonderful job that he is doing at Treasury. We know that the amount of money available for various development programmes and Recurrent Expenditure is not a lot. We have a Budget of Kshs700 billion and the demand on that money is quite a lot. I think what they are doing in Treasury in trying to allocate money to various needs is quite a commendable job. The Ministry is requesting for slightly over Kshs43 billion for quite a number of projects for both Recurrent and Development Expenditure. I was just laughing as I was seated here. Compare that to what I was requesting the other day; about Kshs3 billion. I

Order, Mr. Kosgey! Your time is up!

I have just started, Mr. Speaker, Sir! With those few remarks, I beg to second.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to support the Motion and comment that we have had extensive consultations between the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance. So, I am not really going into detailed discussions about numbers because we have gone through them in great detail

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to support the Vote of the Ministry of Finance. But from the outset, I want to take up the issue of procurement. Towards the end

Mr.---

Mr. Kigen.

Proceed, Mr. Kigen!

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I thought we were all familiar and known by the---

It is only that I left my glasses.

Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I stand to support the Vote of the Ministry of Finance. I have the following observations to make. That being a very crucial Ministry that oversees the operations or the release of funds to other Ministry to fund various projects, it is very important that those funds that you collect and allocate to various functions in the development of the country should be released as soon as it is practically possible. In the past, a lot of money has been returned to the Treasury at the end of every financial year. That is not doing justice to the people of this country. The Minister has stood here and talked about various allocations which have been set aside for purposes of streamlining operations and services that are expected of that Ministry. We hope that those allocations will be put into good use so that taxpayers can receive value for their money. I am particularly happy that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, in his Budget Speech, introduced the Economic Stimulus Package that will see money being sent to the people at the grassroot through devolution of funds. Those people will now access the money and use it. I am happy with the money that has been allocated for purposes of setting up centres of academic excellence. This purpose can only be achieved if the money is released in good time. If we request for the same funds in the next financial year, people should see what the money has been used for in this financial year. If the money is released towards the end of the financial year then its effect will not be felt. We emphasise that the procurement and release of funds should be made more efficient so that we can get value for our money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was also happy to hear the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance talk about money being allocated to infrastructure development, especially the first phase of the railway line from Mombasa to Nairobi. Roads and railways are very important infrastructure that can contribute largely towards the growth of the economy. If this can be done, then I can assure you that haulage--- If you look at the developed countries, you will find that railway transport is very important. It might not be generating a lot of profit, but if you look at the contribution it makes to the growth of the economy, you will be convinced that railway transport has to be enhanced. Our railway system was developed before Independence by the colonialists. We have not developed the existing railway line. I would like to congratulate the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance for thinking in that direction. I urge him to ensure that the money he has set aside for this noble task is put into that purpose as soon as possible. He should also ensure that the railway network is extended further. I am disappointed that the roads in northern Kenya, for example, Garissa have not been tarmacked until today.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Vote for the Ministry of Finance. This is a key Ministry which allocates funds to various Ministries. We appreciate that. Early this year or late last year, Members of Parliament tried to partner with the Ministry of Finance so that we can also be involved in the budget-making process. We wanted to put in our input. However, the Ministry was very reluctant and the media took it up and hit at Members of Parliament. The media accused us of wanting to “eat” that money. It is difficult for hon. Members to “eat” money because we are only after representing our people and seeing to it that they get value for their money. The involvement of the Budget Committee in this process will ensure that Kenyans get value for the taxes they pay.

There is a lot of wastage and theft of funds which we, the ordinary people, cannot detect. The accountants in the districts and the people in charge of audit are aware of this fact but they are reluctant to reveal this information. If you audited the various accounts in the district keenly, you will find that 60 to 80 per cent of the money is wasted or returned to the Treasury. I wish the Ministry could tighten auditing of funds in the various districts so that this money is not wasted.

Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I come from a place where there are two entry points into Kenya and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials do very well there. I am talking about the Malaba and Busia border points. It is unfortunate that the employees, from senior officers to casual employees like sweepers, are people from outside that area. My constituents ask me; “Why should the KRA bring people from very far to do even small jobs that can be done by the locals?” I appeal to the KRA to, at least, have some corporate responsibility by ensuring that clerical and askaris jobs go to the people around the entry points of Malaba and Busia. The KRA collects a lot of money from the Busia and Malaba entry points, but the people who live there get nothing. I hope that one day the KRA will put up a school there. This is because the KRA officials are treated well at those points. The KRA officials go about their work without being attacked. So, the KRA should plough back some of its money so that the people who live around the border points can contribute to nation building.

Recently, the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance said that he will form Committees to oversee the CDF Committees in the constituencies and yet the money from the CDF is too little. Why do they not form committees to oversee how almost Kshs800 billion that is left with the Ministry is used? Why do they want to form oversight committees to oversee only 2.5 per cent of their budget? Let us have our priorities right! This is the case and yet they keep on inciting the public that hon. Members are “eating” their money. We are not “eating” this money. You should table evidence that hon. Members misappropriate the money. Where does the Kshs700 billion go? We only take Kshs10 billion through the CDF. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance should have its priorities right.

Finally, with regard to the KRA, the public needs basic education in matters related to it. Some of us do not know which taxes we should pay. If you open a business, you operate in darkness. As a Member of Parliament who has gone to school, I find the KRA very mysterious. Let the KRA educate people so that they can understand the taxes

Yes, Mr. Sambu!

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the chance to speak on the Motion on the Vote of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance. I would like to state at the outset that I stand here to support the Motion. In supporting the Motion, I would like to particularly thank the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance for the Budget he presented before this House, which, in my view, has revolutionised our thinking and created a lot of talk amongst our people. If we utilize it properly, it is a Budget that will support this country’s development, particularly in the rural areas. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Budget was correctly called “an economic stimulus”. There are a number of things I would like to comment on this Budget. First, we now have a lot of funds being channelled through various areas. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance talked of funds that are to be channelled through the line Ministries, funds that are to be channelled through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) framework, and so on. I hope that we will shortly get the rules and regulations that will be used, so that these funds can be released quickly to the various areas for their timely utilization. We can have a very good Budget but, because of lack of rules, the money will be withheld as time goes by, and by the end of the year, we will not have utilised the funds. So, it will be nice that the rules are in place, so that the funds can be released quickly to the various areas and be utilised. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to thank the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance for thinking seriously about this serious problem in Webuye – the Panpaper Factory. If we are talking of employment for our youth and growth of the economy of this country through the various factories and companies that depend on Panpaper Factory such as milk processing factories, cement factories, and paper converters, Panpaper Factory must be revived very quickly. I am grateful that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance has allocated Kshs500 million to start off the revival of the factory. I have also had a chance to speak with him. We agreed that Kshs500 million is not enough, and that we need Kshs2.6 billion. I have been given the assurance that this money will be available as time passes by. I would like him to actually confirm to this House, as he replies to this debate, that there will be further amounts of money that will be allocated to the tune of Kshs2.6 billion, so that Panpaper Factory will become functional very quickly, because the factory is not only an asset to this country but it is a major factory in Western Province, and particularly in Webuye.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I stand here to support the Vote of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance. On the outset, I would like to join my colleagues in commending the good work that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, the Permanent Secretary (PS) and the technical teams of the various departments are doing. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Finance is crucial in this country. It is the Ministry of Finance that does the collection and distribution of that revenue. It is the Ministry of Finance that follows up implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects financed by those funds. I want to say it here on record that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, has gone into history books for distributing these funds equitably through a devolved system. For the first time, through this financial year’s Budget, Jua Kali sheds will be built throughout the country, roads constructed in every part of this country, and schools of excellence built in every constituency. Above all, road projects have been allocated money across the board. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was with the President and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance yesterday when we launched the Hola and Bura Irrigation schemes under the Economic Stimulus Programme. Above all, today, the President, the Prime Minister, and the whole team, are in the north, where they are launching an emergency programme for the people of this country, who have been hard hit by drought and famine. The Kshs24 billion that has been given to the various line Ministries, through this emergency programme, have been provided by the Ministry of Finance. We must say it. However, I have an issue with the aspect of implementation. I want to be very specific. The Ministry of Finance allocates funds to various Ministries. You will find that in all these Ministries, there is so much delay in implementation, particularly in projects take-off. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I said it on the Floor of this House when the Minister for Energy asked this House to pass his Ministry’s Vote, that a case in point is the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) that has allocated a substantial amount of Kshs17 million to a number of constituencies, including my Dujis Constituency in Garissa. I can say with certainty that none of the projects that have been prioritised by the community in my constituency in financial year 2009/2010 has taken off on the ground. I am sure that that is the situation across the board. So, the moral question that we, as Members of Parliament, and the people of this country, would ask is: Why allocate funds to projects that will never take off, and which will overlap with the next financial year? The Ministry of Finance must be very strict in

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to support this Vote and to thank the Minister, particularly the staff of the Ministry for a job well done. The Budget was received very well. We all celebrated this Budget. When we heard him speak here there were a lot of celebrations.

I have just returned from Mombasa where we were taken through the Finance Bill. I am not as excited as I was during the Budget day because quite a lot of things that are in that Finance Bill were not quite clear to us initially.

Before I come to some points, I just want to request the Minister to consider, first of all, consulting the Committee on Equal Opportunities in Parliament. From the next financial year, we will be asking the Minister to appear before us, so that we can understand the kind of Budget he will read, so that we can see whether it is equal opportunity- compliant in terms of the allocations and resources that will go to the different sectors in this country. We just want the Minister to be on the lookout because we will ask him to appear before us and discuss a few items with him.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in his Budget Speech, the Minister for Finance did indicate that a lot of resources will be devolved down to the grassroots level. This is a good thing because we have been fighting over resources in this country for a long time. He needs to go the extra mile by consulting the grassroots stakeholders, so that the people in the country can know and own the Budget.

This happens in all countries, particularly in the East African region. In Uganda, for example, officials from the Treasury normally visit the countryside a few months before the Minister presents the budget. They go to all the regions and districts, sit down with the stakeholders, identify priority areas and see what allocations can be given to those particular areas.

This effectively means that the whole country own the product that the Minister will read before the House. It has happened in other parts of this region. We do not see why Kenya is an exception. I just want to encourage the Ministry officials to go around the country.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was compelled to bring a Motion before this House which requires the Minister for Finance, effective from next financial year, to set aside 15 per cent of the Development budget for northern Kenya. There is a reason the President and the Prime Minister established this Ministry. It is a shame now that when you look at

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to support this Vote. I am delighted that the Budget that was read by the Minister for Finance was the best in this country. We have been crying, praying and asking that we have a Minister who will consider issues based on mwananchi’s interests. As I support this Vote, I want to congratulate him because, for the first time in this country, there will be money to construct a health facility in every constituency. We are no longer living on dreams. We are not dreaming about what the Government will do for its citizens. There is money. In my constituency, we have Kangundo District Hospital. I will build a modern health centre in the new district. This will reduce the human traffic in Kangundo District Hospital. . Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are talking about Kshs165 million or Kshs170 million that has been allocated to every constituency. It is up to the leaders to take full responsibility to serve the electorate and not to give excuses. We have the money now. The Government will take care of infrastructure such as roads and water dams. Now we have money at the constituency level that we can use. For the first time in my constituency, I will be able to construct two primary schools, each worth Kshs3 million. Each constituency has been allocated money to construct a modern secondary school which will be a centre of excellence.

Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also stand to support Vote 07 for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance. However, I want to make some comments. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as you are aware and I know you know, the struggle for a new Constitution that we have had for many years was the struggle about fairness, justice, equity and a fair distribution of power and equitable distribution of resources. That being the case, one asks the question; what is it that makes it so difficult for intelligent people--- And Kenyans are very intelligent when you listen to them in workshops and Parliament, they make sense. What is it that is lacking? There is a connection that is missing. For example, the levels of taxation in this country today, are almost unacceptable. They are very high. We are one of the most heavily taxed citizens of any decent country. Taxation seems somewhat out of proportion to the way the money is spent. As one looks at these problems, it is quite obvious that we can stand here today and support this Vote, which we do but until we fix our politics, we shall be going round in circles chasing our own tails. We must fix our politics! We must sort out this issue of the debate on the Constitution. We must not just be people who make policies. We must be prepared to have the stomach to implement the policies we make. It would seem to me that Kenya is awash with good policies. This place is replete with wonderful documents in the shelves of Ministers and Government offices across the country. However, the way to implement these policies fairly, equitably and in a manner which is reasonable in the service of the common good seems to be lacking. As I support this budget, we must come back to ourselves because this place is the place that drives our politics. We should begin to reflect on this and commit ourselves to fix our politics. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am privileged to be the chair of one of the House Committees, one of the things I noticed and which seems to be the case across all the

Thank you Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support this Vote. I want to start by commending the Minister for Finance for the Budget that he read. I want to commend the staff at the Ministry for the many things that they have done. I think it is important that we recognize the distance that we have covered. We have talked about the need for police reforms. We continue to talk about the need for judicial reforms and reforms in the prosecution process in this country. We have also talked about many other areas that are in need of reforms. I think it is also important to take stock or recognize that we have had a lot of financial reforms in this country. This has enabled us to collect large amounts of revenue through the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). I believe we have been able to achieve that because we have also been able to close some of the gaps and loopholes that used to exist in the financial sector. In so doing, we have dealt with some of the corruption that was going on without us talking about. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we still have a lot of ground to cover because there is still a lot of corruption in our country. I think it is also important that we recognize what we have achieved. I believe that we would not be collecting Kshs700 billion from Kshs180 billion a couple of years ago, if we had not dealt with some form of corruption in our country. I think it is important that we note that and commend those within the financial sector. That has been achieved because they have committed themselves to do that Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, it is important that we also take note of the fact that even as we go out into some international conferences, it is very sweet for some of us to say we are able to cover up to 95 per cent of our budget without moving around as beggars. These are achievements many of our partners may not be rejoicing in.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir for giving me this time to contribute to this Motion. From the outset, I want to support the Vote of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance. I want, first and foremost, to congratulate the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance for the excellent way in which he presented this year’s Budget. The Budget was well thought off and well- balanced. It is a Budget which, for the first time in the Kenyan history, people appreciated across the board and they felt as if they had an ownership of it. Every Kenyan is able to relate with the Budget in one way or the other. Every person feels that in this Budget, there is something that the people of this nation, wherever they are, can identify with. We can say that in this year’s Budget, there is something for the person in the village, who is at the grassroots level. We want to thank the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance. For the first time in history, funds have been devolved to the extent

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important vote. First, let me take this opportunity to thank and commend the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and members of staff, led by the Permanent Secretary for a job well done. I think this is one of the best Budgets that have been read in this House. Why am I saying this? If you look at the main thrust of the Budget, you will see that it was an economic self-reliance Budget. In other words, he wanted to make constituencies to be self-reliant. He wanted to make constituencies the basis of economic development in this country. To me, this is the best way of counteracting the evil spirit of majimbo . With the thrust of the constituencies being the basis of economic development, the Budget has penetrated each constituency. Various stimuli were given, for example, the recruitment of teachers. I would like to commend the Minister for Education because I have seen an advertisement in the newspapers. I would also like to see the Minister for Medical Services advertise employment of medical staff, particularly the nurses so that they can be sent to the constituencies. I am saying this because I would like him to go a step further. Already he should have declared that all constituencies become districts and all districts become local authorities. To me, this is the best ugatuzi that you can ever get and we will get rid of the majimbo debate because this will be an economically viable set up. This is because whenever you talk about “ majimbo” the implication in this country is that you are saying that some people should be evicted from where they live. That is what goes on in the mind of every Kenyan when you mention the word “ majimbo .”

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to commend the staff under the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, particularly the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) under the Commissioner-General. We have seen rapid increase of total revenue collection from about Kshs106 billion to Kshs700 billion. This is commendable. I urge him to go a step further and start getting tax clearances. Before anyone is employed or vies for a parliamentary or a civic seat, he should get a tax clearance from the KRA. He should also make it compulsory for every Kenyan to have a bank account. He should ban payment of salaries in cash. All salaries should be remitted through bank accounts. He will raise more revenue if he did this. Concerning the Kazi kwa Vijana programme, this is something that we do not seem to understand. I wish that this programme had been put under the constituencies instead of the Ministries. This is because you will find that a Ministry has been allocated the Kazi kwa Vijana, money but it is not equitably distributed to the constituencies. I wish the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance could have gone ahead and placed the Kazi kwa Vijana programme under the constituencies so that it could be exploited fully.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is nothing wrong with having a huge Recurrent Expenditure. The Government is also a player in the market. This money will be spent in this country. It will, in fact, act as a stimulus to the economy. There is nothing wrong with borrowing money so long as it is used in the most economic and viable manner. The USA has borrowed about US$900 trillion. There is nothing wrong with borrowing, so long as the money is used well.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support the Vote for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance. I also want to thank the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and his staff for the good Budget that they gave us. At least, we were considered in our constituencies this year. It has reduced the influx of Members of Parliament going to Ministries to beg when they want a road, a school or a hospital done. With the economic stimulus, we will get these things without going to the Ministries to beg.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the equity distribution that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance did by giving all the constituencies equal funds is not a bad idea. This is because you could be having a big population while the other area has a big land mass. So, the way he distributed the money was not bad. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance also tried to solve the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) problem by asking Ministers and senior civil servants to surrender vehicles above the 1800 cc, but that seems not be working since the idea has not actually been implemented. You will remember that even the former Minister for Finance said one time that it was going to be one Minister one vehicle but it never worked. All the Ministers have now refused to use small cars. So, the money that will be saved for the sake of the IDPs will not be realised. I wish he had allocated some money for the IDPs so that we could do away with the camps that we see.

With regard to the Civil Contingency Fund, it is high time the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance brought this before Parliament so that we increase it to more than Kshs2 billion. This is because we have seen him bring in other contingency funds and claim that, that is money for settling the IDPs and other things. I think he is just increasing the Civil Contingency Fund through the back door.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister is also buying shares in De La Rue. I agree that every country should have a money printing company, but at the moment, De La Rue is operating at a very low capacity unless they will work hand-in-hand and see to it that they install good machines that will print money. I think currently, the company cannot even print the new generation notes.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance did a very good thing by saying that the money meant for retirement benefits should be invested in Government stocks. This is because we even saw the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) depositing money in banks that went under. So, if this will be implemented and have all retirement benefits put in Government stocks or securities, it will be a very good idea.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support this Motion.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I also thank the Deputy Prime

Your time is up!

With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to join the rest of my colleagues in thanking the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance for a job well-done. At least, we have the appetizer in terms of things to come. This Budget reflects that style. I have used the word “thinking outside the box” because that is one word that has been over-used. If Mr. Kimunya and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance,

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute. I would also want to join my colleagues in celebrating the budget that was presented by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in having---

Mr. Baiya, you just have one minute.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you and I want to also thank my colleagues for all the very useful comments that they have made. Just to highlight a few, the Chairman of the Departmental Committee did talk about the issue of reviewing the previous year; 2008/2009. I think that is something we can work together with him and give him a complete breakdown, both of Recurrent and Development Expenditure for the previous year when we sit with him and his Committee. However, in future, as we present new Budgets, we will take his point into account.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), I need to give them more support We are also convinced that KRA needs more support and we will continue to do whatever it is that we can to ensure that they are given the necessary financial support to continue doing the good job that they are doing. He mentioned about the problem with the Pensions Department. We had discussed that issue with his Committee and we agreed that there is work that is currently being done that should improve drastically and dramatically the period of time that it takes to release payments to pensioners. Furthermore, he talked about the additional money for Pan Paper Mills, Webuye. This was also raised by Mr. Sambu. We have made a provision of Kshs500 million. This is in line with the Government’s commitment to ensure that Pan Paper Mills is revamped. After detailed discussions on the reorganization of Pan Paper Mills are concluded, if additional funding will be required, we shall do everything we can to make the funding available.

Mr. Bahari talked about procurement. As you will recall in my Budget Statement, we indicated that this is, indeed, a problem; the issue of last minute rush to procure at the end of the financial year. We are trying to bring this issue to an end because it leaves room for rent seeking as he says. We are trying to strengthen our Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) to ensure that as we move on, this situation is corrected. On the issue of the need to bring a more detailed Treasury report based on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Investments Committee (PIC) reports or the other reports from the devolved fund committees, again, I can give an undertaking that as we move forward, we will be giving more detailed information and action taken on Ministries that have not properly or fully utilized the funds that have been allocated to them.

Next Vote. Vote No.15 for the Ministry of Labour!

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the Speaker do now leave the Chair to enable me initiate debate on Vote 15 – Ministry of Labour. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Labour has been in existence since Independence. In 1999, the Ministry was renamed the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development after a merger of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment. In the Presidential Circular No.12008, the Ministry’s name was changed to the Ministry of Labour. The Ministry’s mandate, as per the Presidential Circular No.12008 is:- (a) National manpower policy and development; (ii) Employment policy; (iii) Factory inspection and workers health; (iv) Safety at work; (v) Industrial relations; (vi) Vocational training; (vii) Promotion of self employment in Micro and Small Enterprises (SMEs);

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to second this very important Vote. I also want to contribute a little as I second the Motion.

This Ministry is very important, but it is under-funded. If we want to remove industrial unrest in this country, this Ministry should be properly funded, so that it can employ labour inspectors. These labour inspectors will then inspect employers. Employers are paying Kenyans peanuts. An example is the Kenya Airways staff who went on strike the other day. We found out that they are paid a salary of Kshs8,000. This Ministry is the one supposed to inspect employers like Kenya Airways, those of us who employ housemaids and pay them Kshs100 or Kshs200 instead of the minimum wage.

During Labour Day celebrations, the Minister for Labour or even His Excellency the President normally gives Kenyans false hope that the minimum wage for any employee in urban and rural areas will be so much. Employees are paid so little and yet there is no one to inspect the salaries. In Pan Paper Factory and the Industrial Area here, people work under very bad conditions. This Ministry is supposed to go and inspect the circumstances under which employees are working. They are never inspected because the Ministry is under-funded and employers treat employees as if they are not human beings. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is high time that we really cared for this Country and our own people, that we fund the Ministry of Labour so that it employs enough personnel to go and check the employers of this country. In Kenya we talk about being an industrialized country. Surely, if the J ua Kali shades where people are supposed to learn in order to know industrialization are not funded, how are we going to make this country industrialized? Jua Kali artisans are not being educated on how to manufacture items. The Jua Kali sheds have stalled. There is nothing we can say as far as this Ministry is concerned. Finally, I think the amount of money allocated to this Ministry is peanuts compared to the demands on the ground. If we are going to start Industrial Courts in districts and provinces, we need to fund them. They will help us remove the backlog of cases in courts. Cases to do with labour and employment are very different from the normal way I can take you to court if you owe me money. With those few remarks, I beg to second.

Mr. Bifwoli, for a moment, I was worried that you were opposing and not seconding!

Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute. The Departmental Committee on Labour and Social Welfare was constituted on the 17th of June, 2009. The Committee is mandated to consider the following issues:- Labour, trade union relations, manpower, human resource planning, gender, culture, social welfare, youth, children affairs and national heritage. In undertaking our mandate, the Committee oversees the following Ministries:- The Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development, the Ministry of State for National Heritage, the Ministry of State for Special Programmes and Office of the Vice-President and Ministry of Home Affairs. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Departmental Committee on Labour and Social Welfare has the following membership:- 1. Hon. Mrs. S.A. Noor, MP

- Chairperson 2. Hon. Mr. L. Kivuti, MP

- Vice Chairman 3. Hon. Mr. E. Langat, MP

- Member 4. Hon. Mr. J. Magwanga, MP - Member 5. Hon. Mr. K. Magerer, MP

- Member 6. Hon. Mr. A. Keynan, MP

- Member 7. Hon. Mr. G. Konchella

- Member 8. Hon. Mr. A. Odhiambo

- Member Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as a Committee we support Vote 15. As at 2007, the labour force of this country was estimated at 9.45 million. We know that 75 per cent of the labour force is in the agricultural sector, while 25 per cent is in the industry and service delivery sector. The unemployment rate in Kenya as at 2008 was at 40 per cent. These are the people who were of age and could be employed. They range between 15 to 55 years but were not employed. The global financial meltdown has worsened the situation with laying off of workers due to the decrease in profit making in the business sector. As a Ministry which deals with issues to do with the labour force, their work is important. It safeguards the rights and the welfare of workers especially in the face of the global crisis that we are facing.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are several challenges and constraints facing this Ministry. As a Committee, we felt that the Ministry’s Budget allocation had been low over the years. This has hampered the implementation of activities and programmes related to their mandate. The following shows the allocations over the last three years: In the year 2006/2007, we had an allocation of Kshs1.1 billion to this Ministry. In the Financial Year 2007/2008, the Ministry was allocated Kshs1.3 billion and in the Financial Year 2008/2009, the Ministry was allocated Kshs1.3 billion again. For the Financial Year 2009/2010, the Ministry has been allocated Kshs2.1 billion.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for granting me the opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion on the Ministry of Labour. I support this Motion from the outset. The Ministry should be given the amount that they have asked for. But I think the amount is quite paltry compared to the mandate that the

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to support this Vote but with a very heavy heart because I realized that we are passing a Vote that cannot be effective. It will definitely be ineffective because it is definitely not adequate. I do not know what our rules are in this House but I think that there are some Ministries whose Votes are like this which should really just be approved without having to come to the Floor of the House because obviously these are salaries that we are approving. It is not a Ministry that is going to deliver anything. This is really, I think, the black mark in the

Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also want to join others who have said that it is regrettable because the Ministry has not received the required funds to undertake its mandate successfully. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, before I came to Parliament, I was the Secretary-General of the Union of Kenya Civil Servants and, therefore, on several occasions, I was able to engage the Ministry on various issues affecting the workers. It is very regrettable because the Ministry, in reality, does very little to support workers. For example, we have Government workers or civil servants who have been underpaid for many years and nothing much has been done. We have civil servants who are supposed to push forward the Government agenda in terms of implementing Government policies and who, up to now, do not receive what they consider to be their right. For example, when senior civil servants are paid commuter allowance, the junior officers who need that

Your time is up!

With those few remarks, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support.

Proceed, hon. Laboso!

Thank you Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to contribute to this important Ministry. As others before me have spoken, honestly, the Government is not taking this Ministry seriously. If they were taking it seriously, they would not allocate it the peanuts it has. This is not acceptable for such an important Ministry to be under-resourced. This is unfair. We pride ourselves as a country with highly trained human capital, but which in most cases is unable to be engaged or get the jobs that they require. I hope this Ministry will assist us to come up with policies that can synchronize the kind of personnel that we are churning out of our colleges and universities. What we churn out must be synchronized with what we need in the market.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I join the hon. Members who are literally mourning this budget. Looking at the whole thing, you get surprised at who works where and what they do there. I am saying this to the people who work at the Treasury. I am glad they are here. There are problems when you allocate 0.01 per cent of the Budget to this Ministry. The first problem I assume you have is that you do not know the five factors of production which are entrepreneurship, capital, land, labour and climate. If you look at any country, you will realise that the biggest resource it has is her people - the human resource. The Treasury has allocated 0.01 per cent of the total Budget to this Ministry and it expects this honourable House to endorse the same and say that we have the Ministry of Labour. I think, we not only need to think outside the box, but also invent ourselves and have a metamorphosis. If I may repeat it for the purpose of the record, “metamorphosis” is a process through which a caterpillar which is a very ugly animal becomes a butterfly and flies. That is what we need to look at.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is very sad that we have to sit here. Look at Naivasha, with 70,000 workers and one Labour Officer, who does not even have a motor vehicle of a motorbike. That is the situation we are talking about. What can he do? He will simply sit there and get blamed forever. I support this Vote because I have to, because the Bible says: “Those who have little can also lose it because those who have more will always get more.” With those remarks, I beg to support.

Ahsante, Mhe. Naibu wa Spika. Nimefurahi kupata nafasi ya kuichangia Hoja ya Bajeti ya Wizara ya Leba ambayo ni Wizara muhimu sana katika taifa letu. Ningependa kumfahamisha Waziri kwamba wananchi wa Kenya wameshindwa kuelewa ni kwa nini kubuniwa kwa nafasi za kazi zinazohitajika hakujatekelezwa na

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute. I want to support this Vote. I also agree with my colleagues who have expressed their concern about the deplorable condition faced by workers in this country. This situation is so worrying. Even though this Ministry is under-funded and cannot really perform fully to fulfill its mandate, it can still do something. There is a serious problem of attitude. I have in mind the practices in the district level. Whenever a complaint is brought to Labour Inspectors’ attention by an employee or when there is a dispute between an employer and an employee, they instinctively support the employer. It is as if they do not really recognize that a lot of value would be added in ensuring that workers are treated humanely and that their rights are respected.

It is a big challenge that the Government has not seen the need to properly fund this Ministry. So, this attitude transcends from the employers of various categories, including the Government. If this country wants to develop, we must change our attitude towards our workers. We must change our attitude towards the labour force.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what is even worse is that in these times of economic crisis we cannot hope and expect workers will take all kinds of inconveniences and disadvantage, while lying down when others who are well placed, are compensated. All employees are expected to survive even when inflation and other adverse changes come about. There is a limit to how far you can push people as we have seen in the case of the Kenya Airways staff. We may think they went too far, but those kinds of disparities are not understandable and cannot be tolerated in a modern society. We expect the Ministry to train labour officers. Is it that there are no people who are willing to be trained as labour officers? There are certain things that do not add up. Coupled with this is the way we treat the funds for employees, like retirement benefits. For example, NSSF has always been a cash cow. The cash cows are not workers. They are employers. They are the people who have the responsibility to ensure that the rights of employees are respected.

It is very tragic when we hear that all financial crises affect the workers funds in one way or another. This is the reason workers feel that their rights are being violated, left, right and centre.

We need to press this Ministry to ensure that all labour laws that have been passed in this Parliament are implemented to the letter. We have also even seen the clamour by the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) to seek to have those rules changed. I think it would be very bad impression if we pass legislation only to retract on what this House passed. The Ministry should, therefore, take a firm stand. This House passed that legislation and until and unless amendments have been made, the Ministry should not be speaking as if it is willing to negotiate with employers to amend the laws through the backdoor. That will be very dangerous because that is the first step to ensuring the laws will not be respected.

The Ministry should stand firm and ask the employers to enforce the law as it is. If there are any changes, it is not for the Ministry to amend it before bringing them to this House. In light of the fact that the history of labour in this country has been so--- With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also rise to support this Motion. However, I want to say that something is not adding up. A scenario where a Ministry is

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also rise to support the Motion for the Vote of the Ministry of Labour. This Ministry, with its financial constraints, has done a commendable job. First, I know that for the last few years, they have been trying to codify the very many laws of labour into some simpler documents. I am sure that this is ongoing. I also know that they have brought up issues like we hear of today, the paternal leave, which came from the Ministry. The Ministry should courageously implement the laws which have been passed by this House without any recourse at all unless amended. Let me also commend the Ministry for the harmonious industrial relations that prevail in the country today. However, I will be quick to say that the harmony we are experiencing does not mean that things are very good. The problem is that we are in what we call an employer’s market. There is mass and acute unemployment and, therefore, our youth and all those people who are leaving school have no work to do and whatever little job they get is what they go into. The conditions are terrible, the pay is terrible but because they need to get the daily bread, they have to abide by the very harsh conditions that there are. We know that there are minimum wages and conducive environment to work under. However, people persevere because they need daily bread. Out of that, we hear of people getting stressed at the places of work and others getting sick because of the unhealthy conditions that they work under. This is the area that the Ministry should have enough funds to deal with. All these things would not be happening if the Ministry was able to employ many labour officers who can visit places of work and ensure that in various work areas, workers are under the required environment and that the pay they get is in accordance with the minimum wages and all that. Since there are no funds for labour officers to visit all these places, you will find that people have no recourse because going on strike would also mean that they would not have bread for that day. I am just from Mombasa and there are some employees who have been working for the last six months without pay. They are now in the streets. For those who read today’s paper, you must have seen that one of them collapsed because of hunger. This is because of the harsh conditions that I have just talked about. It is also because the Ministry of Labour is not empowered to ensure that they can monitor what is happening in each and every work place. This Ministry is called the Ministry of Labour. We know that in any firm, as long as you are not talking about human resource development, then you are not in business. I am sure that if we can empower this Ministry and ensure that the human resource development aspect of it is taken care of, then in terms of productivity and development of this country we will see what we have not seen before in terms of development. With those few remarks, I support.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to also contribute to this important Vote.

From the outset, I would like to say that the Ministry is grossly under-funded. Of course, Kshs789 million is too little if at all we need to see serious work being done. If we need to see or have lesser labour disputes, there must be people to address them before they arise. If we need to see discussions between labour officers and staff from various places, we need to see a higher number of staff being recruited.

Order, Hon. Member for Manyatta! Your time is up!

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I support.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to support Vote 15 of the Ministry of Labour. This is a very important Ministry as far as I am concerned and as far as this country is concerned but it is being under-funded. Let it go on record that this Ministry is marginalized. I wish that even the one who allocated these funds would have manned a similar figure in his Ministry. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me say that the under-funding in this Ministry will actually lead to lack of inspection in our work places, including in the Ministry of Finance because it is the Ministry which also inspects the offices of the Ministry of Finance and also develops human resources in those Ministries. So, I strongly feel that the Ministry of Finance would have actually increased the allocation to this Ministry. Under-funding leads to job insecurity in this country. A number of the citizens of this country are being sacked left and right because they are dissatisfied with poor pay. When they come out to demand for their rights they are sacked. I wish to say that this Ministry should have been allocated more funding in order to improve inspection in workplaces, factories and be able to solve industrial disputes in this country.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is lack of safety measures in our workplaces because this Ministry has not been facilitated it. You will find that in most cases, one District Labour Officer operates in over 20 districts without a vehicle. How do you expect a labour officer to move by foot or trek to inspect 20 districts in this country? It is impossible! So I would actually wish to say that the Ministry of Finance should do something about this Ministry.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, lack of inspection and facilitation has actually led to brain drain in this country. We have lost a number of our professionals to other countries because they are not being paid well in this country. This one has made Kenya a developing country and it will continue to be a developing country maybe until after 2030, which we are saying that we are dreaming or hoping to achieve something by the Vision 2030. It will actually not be realized unless this Ministry is fully facilitated.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say that there is no country that can develop without funding the Jua Kali sector. Most of the imports we receive in this country are just products of Jua Kali sectors from those foreign countries.

If we do not develop the Jua Kali sector in our country, there is nowhere we are going. We must develop our own and export the same in order to earn foreign exchange to develop this country. So, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance should have funded the Jua Kali sector which falls under the Ministry of Labour in order to improve the Jua Kali sector. The Jua Kali sector has employed our own people. If that is not done, we are doomed.

With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to also take this opportunity to support this Vote and at the same time decry the fact that it is underfunded. I think it is

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to Vote 15 - Ministry of Labour. I rise to support this Motion with some reservations. If you look at the amount of money allocated to that Ministry and compare it with other Ministries, it is far much below the mark. To attract foreign direct investments to this country, we need to have well trained employees. We need to have employees with the capacity to undertake some of the assignments from multinational corporations. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what has been happening in this country for so many years will continue – the brain drain. There is no way you can retain Kenyans here when there are opportunities somewhere else. Those countries train their employees and also make it possible for their companies to go to other countries to invest and make profits. Other countries are taking Kenyans and training them. That means they leave the country,

On a point of order, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Is it in order for my good friend to be speaking from the Minister’s position? When was he appointed a Minister and by who?

Hon. Prof. Kaloki, indeed, you cannot address the House from the right of Mr. Speaker. So, can you go to the back and complete your contribution!

Order, Prof. Kaloki! The entire Front Bench is considered to be for the Cabinet!

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am not a Minister, but it has been our practice lately to contribute from the Dispatch Box. I was just keeping that practice.

In conclusion, this Ministry is important and it requires adequate funding. I support the Motion with reservations.

I call upon the Minister to reply.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank all the hon. Members who have contributed in support of our Ministry today. I would like to start with Mr. Bifwoli who talked about raising the minimum wage. Indeed, we are not playing with this matter. During the Labour Day celebrations, we had a good package for Kenyans with regard to the minimum wage, but unfortunately the crowds went rowdy and stoned us. As a Ministry, we have gazetted the minimum wages for all categories of employees be they housemaids or workmen. We will table that in Parliament very soon.

Most hon. Members have discovered that the Ministry is grossly under-funded. Thanks to the Parliamentary Staff. I was in the last Parliament and we never managed to debate the Vote of the Ministry of Labour. This time, we are doing just that. The whole country has seen that the Ministry, despite being key in dealing with employers and employees, it is grossly underfunded. The officials of this Ministry presented to the Ministry of Finance a very good budget, but it was rejected. Nonetheless, our budget moved a bit higher this financial year. We hope, as has been requested by hon. Members, the Ministry will be allocated sufficient funds during the Supplementary Budget.

Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, I beg to move:-

THAT, a sum not exceeding Kshs21,242,940,520 be issued from the Consolidated Fund to complete the sum necessary to meet expenditure during the year ending 30th June, 2010, in respect of :-

Vote 07 – Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance

VOTE R07 – RECURRENT EXPENDITURE

SUB-VOTE 070 – GENERAL ADMINISTRATION AND PLANNING

SUB-VOTE 071 – FINANCIAL SERVICES

SUB-VOTE 075 – CENTRALIZED SERVICES

SUB-VOTE 076 – GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT

SUB-VOTE 077 – INVESTMENT REGULATORY SERVICES

Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, I wish to thank hon. Members for giving the Ministry this---

Order, Mr. Assistant Minister! Move your Vote. You can approach the Clerk for further guidance.

Vote 15 – Ministry of Labour

Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, I beg to move:- THAT, a sum not exceeding Kshs789,330,950 be issued from the Consolidated Fund to complete the sum necessary to meet the expenditure during the year ending 30th June, 2010, in respect of:-

Vote 15 – Ministry of Labour

VOTE R15 – RECURRENT EXPENDITURE

SUB-VOTE 150 – GENERAL ADMINISTRATION AND PLANNING

SUB-VOTE 151 – INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

SUB-VOTE 152 – DIRECTORATE OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY SERVICES

SUB-VOTE 153 – HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

SUB-VOTE 154 – DEPARTMENT OF MICRO AND SMALL SCALE ENTERPRISES DEVELOPMENT

SUB-VOTE 155 – DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING

Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am directed to report that the Committee of Supply has considered the Resolution that a sum not exceeding Kshs21,242,940,520 be issued from the Consolidated Fund to complete the sum necessary to meet the expenditure during the year ending 30th June, 2010 in respect of Vote 07 – Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance and has approved the same without amendment.

Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the House doth agree with the Committee in the said Resolution.

(Mr. Ojaamong) seconded.

Vote 15 – Ministry of Labour

Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am directed to report that the Committee of Supply has considered the Resolution that a sum not exceeding Kshs789,330,950 be issued from the Consolidated Fund to complete the sum necessary to meet the expenditure during the year ending 30th June, 2010 in respect of Vote 15 – Ministry of Labour, and has approved the same without amendment.

Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the House doth agree with the Committee in the said Resolution.

(Dr. Oburu) seconded.

Hon. Members, we have come to the end of today’s sitting. Therefore, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, 19th August, 2009, at 9.00 a.m.

The House rose at 7.43 p.m.