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{
    "id": 1056514,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1056514/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 206,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Navakholo, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2543,
        "legal_name": "Emmanuel Wangwe",
        "slug": "emmanuel-wangwe"
    },
    "content": "The only thing we would want to say is that this figure is too high. How I wish there was room for renegotiation so that it is brought downwards. It should not strain other sectors. Resources that would otherwise be available for roads and those that would have otherwise gone to Level 5 hospitals have all been included in the allocation to county governments. What is good is that this is a negotiated position. The other thing that persuades me to support this BPS is the fact that I come from an agricultural zone and agriculture has been recognised in the document. Most of the resources that shall go into crop production have been aligned properly in this BPS. The e-voucher system is a new line of thought by the Government and is well taken care of in this BPS. It is also important to note that the issue of the budget deficit vis-à-vis the overall debt portfolio of the country is something we must rise above politics and think of the economy of this country. The fact that we are going to borrow Ksh930 billion to finance the 2021/2022 Budget is not a good thing to smile about. It will hit the overall debt portfolio of this country. We must borrow for the right cause. That is why in the Budget and Appropriations Committee Report we are restrictive. We do not want to borrow to finance new projects which will not be completed to contribute money to the economy. We want to borrow so that we are able to pay pending bills owed to small people who have supplied goods and services to various Ministries. Once you pay the small person on the ground, he is going to spur the economy in terms of spending. Definitely, that money will come back. We are not going to borrow for mega projects whose lifeline is too long. We want to borrow so that we are able to quickly get value for money. In one year or two, we should be able to see that the objectives for borrowing are realised on the ground. For that reason, the allowance of Ksh930 billion to be borrowed to finance this year’s budget, in my view and that of the Committee, will be a good thing. However, we caution the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury that the debt ratio at 7.5 per cent to the GDP is too high. We caution the National Treasury to really work hard and lower this percentage. However, the percentage is manageable; it is within the overall global percentages and it is something that we can still work with. I also want to look at policy issues. We should consider the issue of State-owned enterprises. It is important that the Government takes our recommendation seriously and surrenders some of these very expensive enterprises to the public. Let the State not do business. It is outdated that the Government can hang on to State enterprises and continue to control them, yet it can surrender them into the hands of the private sector so that private players can pay the Government in terms of taxes. Enterprises like the sugar mills are dead factories. We just wrote off debts amounting to Ksh85 billion in this House. Why did we write off the debts and yet the factories are still not running? One factory can employ about 2,000 people at a time. We want the State-owned enterprises to be privatised. I call on the Privatisation Commission to wake up and do their job. Let it do justice to the Kenyan people by making sure that these enterprises are privatised. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I support the report."
}