{UAH} Pojim/WBK: Standard Digital News - Kenya : Speaker, mace and Raila return on Kenya’s big budget day

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000165374/speaker-mace-and-raila-return-on-big-budget-day

Standard Digital News - Kenya : Speaker, mace and Raila return on Kenya's big budget day

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich (centre), Planning and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru (right) and Budget and Appropriations Committee Chair Mutava Musyimi arrive in Parliament Thursday.  [PHOTO: GOVEDI ASUTSA /STANDARD]

NAIROBI: After a four-year hiatus, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi became the first Speaker to sit in the debating chambers and listen to a Cabinet Secretary read the spending plan for the next financial year 2015-16.

The Speaker was in his seat, and the mace – the gold and ivory symbol of legislative authority—was at its place on the table next to the Dispatch Box ready for the reading of the budget.

The new approach came after the Standing Orders were changed to allow Cabinet Secretaries to directly address MPs on issues affecting the nation.

Thursday's novel move gave the Budget speech a little pomp that has been traditionally associated with this day. The only things missing were the President, the police band and the military parade.

National Treasury's Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich was the first Cabinet Secretary to address the House under the new rules. And he did so in one hour, fifty minutes.

Rotich, with a special branded podium with a green banner and the words 'National Treasury' embroidered in white, addressed the House from a corner to the right of the Speaker. The clean-shaven Rotich was clad in a navy blue suit, a white shirt and a snappy red tie. He had a little flower on his left lapel.

Previous budgets were simply presented before the Budget and Appropriations Committee, which is chaired by Mutava Musyimi (Mbeere South), but the ceremony was held on the floor of the House to allow as many MPs and dignitaries to witness the event.

Rotich was in the company of his Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru as he read to the MPs the taxation measures to raise the Sh2 trillion required for the budget, and gave investors hope.

RARE GUEST

The rare guest in the fete was Opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Raila had lunch with his CORD MPs in the National Assembly's cafeteria before he joined them in the House to listen to the Budget speech. He shared a booth with Central Bank's Deputy Governor Harun Sirima just next to the Speaker's Row – the place where the First Lady and the Deputy President traditionally sit.

But it was not Rotich's day, as MPs had first to dispense with the little business of their grudge with Interior Principal Secretary Monica Juma, whom they said had officially written to the clerks of Parliament seeking to bar lawmakers from her office, if their business there was to seek irregular transfers of government officials.

When the Speaker introduced the guest in the House, the MPs cheered Odinga with chants of "Baba! Baba!" They reserved foot-thumps and nods for Mining CS Najib Balala, Environment's Judi Wakhungu and Information's Fred Matiang'i. But the pugnacious MPs booed Education CS Jacob Kaimenyi.

They also cheered when the Speaker introduced the Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and the Attorney General Githu Muigai.

Senators Agnes Zani (nominated), Billow Kerrow (Mandera) and GG Kariuki (Laikipia) sat together with the principal secretaries on the Speaker's Gallery.

The House, having punished Juma, with 210 MPs present then sat to listen to Rotich. But it was Mutava who came on first, and thanked them for approving the numbers that Rotich was about to read.

"When we started this process, it was like building a beehive. Now the final product is here, let us enjoy the honey," said Mutava, who then invited Rotich.

Rotich read the budget, and in between pauses, he got a glass of cold water from Waiguru who was just seated next to him near Dr Thugge.

The promise in this year's budget, Rotich said, was to accelerate growth, create jobs and ease the cost of living for Kenyans.

The MPs thumped their feet when they heard that the Capital Gains Tax had been abolished; they cheered when they heard that they had been allocated Sh35.2 billion for the Constituency Development Fund; and they smiled knowingly when they heard of the ambitious plan to have Kenyans with wealth in foreign countries bring it back home.

When Rotich was done at 5.50pm, there were just 120 MPs in the House.

Standard Digital News - Kenya : Speaker, mace and Raila return on Kenya's big budget day

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000165374/speaker-mace-and-raila-return-on-big-budget-day

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.