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{
    "id": 1142409,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1142409/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 175,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I also want to join other colleagues in supporting the Committees’ Report, which proposes that we annul the Sinking Fund Guidelines. I have listened to the Mover of the Motion. He has articulated the reasons as to why they are annulling these important Guidelines. What I am picking from this presentation is that we are using the same reasons which were being proposed to annul the Biashara Fund Regulations that we debated either late last week or earlier this week. With regard to these two sets of Regulations, one is being annulled for technical reasons and the other one because of lack of public participation. It happens that these two sets of Regulations come from the same Ministry. I wonder whether people are learning lessons from what is happening. This is a situation where we are annulling Regulations because of lack of public participation. The object of these Guidelines is very important to this country. It is through these Guidelines that we should be able to address the public debt that Hon. Omboko was talking about. We are supposed to have a Sinking Fund. For those with financial background, a Sinking Fund is supposed to assist you when you want to pay for or clear a debt. It can assist when the need for that purpose arises. When we issue Bonds and Treasury Bills to Kenyans and they are due for payment, we can be able to pay them when they are due. If we do not have these Guidelines in place, it means that we will never have an operational Sinking Fund in this country. The National Treasury needs to take its work seriously. We will approve this Report today, which will mean that the National Treasury has to go back to the drawing board and come up with new Guidelines. I do not know how long it will take to have those Guidelines in place since the 12th Parliament is coming to an end in August. It is likely that those Guidelines will come in during the 13th Parliament. Time will keep moving as Kenyans keep talking about unbearable public debt. It is important that we address the technical issues and issues of public participation – which this Committee keeps bringing up in the House – before such Guidelines are tabled so that we save time and operationalise some of the important activities and funds. It was very disturbing the other day when we could not approve the Biashara Kenya Fund Regulations. I am sure Members are aware that the whole idea behind the Biashara Kenya Fund was to bring together three Funds, namely; the Women Enterprise Fund, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and the Uwezo Fund so that at the end of the day we have a well-structured framework to provide resources to our people. These Guidelines are supposed to provide a legal framework which will ensure that our public debt is paid on time. However, you can see what circumstances will force us to do as we cannot go against the law. The Committee looked at the Guidelines and resolved that in terms of the template of what is required, they do not fit the bill. Therefore, on that basis, we have to reject the Guidelines even though they are very important to this country. As the Committee that oversees the National The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}