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"id": 1172139,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kipkelion East, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Joseph Limo",
"speaker": {
"id": 1915,
"legal_name": "Joseph Kirui Limo",
"slug": "joseph-kirui-limo"
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"content": "As I conclude, yesterday we passed the extension of our borrowing limit, and there is a lot of danger there. It is very painful that this House passed it. It is very shameful that we do not consider how the borrowing is killing the economy of this country. There is a very dangerous trend in this country. Once we expand the borrowing limit, we are supposed to make sure that the National Treasury gives us the breakdown of borrowing. What has killed the economy of this country is not only borrowing in general, but the makeup of borrowing. During the leadership of the Hon. Late President Mwai Kibaki, there emerged a trend where banks were hawking loans outside the banks. They pitched tents everywhere. Why? It is because Kibaki was a very smart economist. What he did is that he starved the banks and, therefore, the banks were looking for customers. What is happening now is that the National Treasury borrows heavily from the local market. Consequently, the Government now competes with the public. So, the banks do not see the need of giving mama mboga and boda boda riders credit. Why? Because they are considered risky. The Government is a very solid ground for business for the banks. I witnessed that in the last review, when I was the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, the National Treasury actually did not give this House correct information. They tricked this House that they were going to restructure the public debt. They were supposed to go outside this country to negotiate bilateral and multilateral concessional loans and repay the domestic loans. They did not do that. So, what has happened is that the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and local borrowers are not able to get any loans, which has strained their finances and they have closed down. If the Government is going to borrow without restructuring the debt, it is not going to work."
}