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{
    "id": 1051865,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1051865/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 102,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "The report states that the net credit to the private sector expanded to 8.2 per cent by November, 2020, and that net credit grew by 17 per cent, which was different by 42 per cent growth in net credit to the public sector. Therein lies our biggest problem and I am glad the Vice-Chairperson has mentioned it. We can be awed by numbers, but is there money in the pockets of Kenyans? For the longest time, Kenyans feel there is no money in their pockets because they have been crowded out of the domestic market by the Government. Mr. Speaker, Sir, one proposal that the Committee on Finance and Budget should have proposed is what we have in other jurisdictions like India where you can borrow what you want, but from the domestic market. The credit mix must reach a certain level because we are talking about close to Kshs700 billion that we intend to borrow from the domestic market. Which bank would give Ochillo-Ayacko & Sons Limited a loan for their business? It cannot do so. That is why we have had many job losses because the private sector and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are bleeding. We see Nairobi as the hub of entrepreneurship on this continent yet we are blocking the private sector from growing by making them not access the credit. By the way, I do not believe we have a debt problem. We have a deficit problem in this country which is because we have decided that we must do a budget of Kshs3 trillion. I think there is fallacy in economic thinking that we must achieve everything in two or five years and that is what must be reviewed. If we want to save the economy of this country, we should talk about how we will reduce the budgets going forward and end up in the next three or five years with a Kshs1.5 trillion budget which we can adequately service. When Hon. Mwiraria was the Minister for Finance, I remember him saying proudly that we would fully finance our budget. If I am not wrong, 95 per cent of our budget was financed by our taxes in this country. It is only five per cent that was borrowed and very little from the domestic market. That time banks would come to hawk loans to students. When I was in the university, they used to tell us to take unsecured loans and Kenyans felt there was money. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}