The two women parliamentarians in Narok County have challenged Narok residents to read and understand the financial bill, 2024 before rejecting it.
County Women Representative Rebecca Tonkei and Narok North Legislator Agnes Pareyio, while defending their stand to support the financial bill, said that they had read and re-read the bill and confirmed it was right for the people they represent.
Tonkei said among the goodies that the controversial finance bill is carrying is the employment of 46, 000 intern teachers who will be employed on a permanent basis.
“There is no time any government has ever employed as many teachers as the current government intends to employ. They have created numerous job opportunities for the many jobless youths,” he said.
Every constituency will get an addition of Sh. 50 million in the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF), which will be used to improve infrastructure and other recommended development projects in the constituencies.
Also, she said, the proposed financial bill will create an allocation for the free school feeding programme that will see all children get free meals in school, hence boosting school enrollment and attendance.
“Kindly do not rely on propaganda when making decisions. Before you throw stones at us, read the bill properly, and you will realise that we who voted ‘yes’ were wiser than the opposition that voted ‘no’, she said.
Pareyio told her constituents that she was forced to step outside during the voting after yielding to pressure from the people to vote ‘no’.
“I walked outside during the voting not because I was opposing the bill but because I had received many messages from the people asking me to vote ‘no’,” she said.
She described the controversial finance bill as the rescuer of the pastoralist community as it provides a Sh1 billion kitty for restocking livestock that die during prolonged dry spells.
“I think a sober and genuine person cannot reject this bill. I believe the main challenge we have is ignorance, as people do not want to read for themselves and instead rely on messages from social media,” she said.
They spoke at the Ntiyian area in Narok North constituency during a development tour in the area.
During the voting last week, six out of seven members of parliament drawn from Narok County supported the bill, while only Kilgoris legislator Julius Sunkuli voted against it.
Others who supported include Ken Aramat (Narok East), Kitilai Ntutu (Narok South), Gabriel Tongoyo (Narok West), and Johanah Ngeno (Emurrua Dikirr).
By Ann Salaton
