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{
    "id": 1173474,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1173474/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kieni, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kanini Kega",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1813,
        "legal_name": "James Mathenge Kanini Kega",
        "slug": "james-mathenge-kanini-kega"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I support this Motion. Thank you for your wisdom to re-arrange the Order Paper in order for us to dispense with this issue of debt ceiling. The Budget of 2022/2023 has a deficit of about Kshs846 billion whereas we have a leg room of only about Kshs200 billion. I want to make it clear that the alteration of this debt ceiling is not affecting this financial year or this Government. This financial year is fully funded and it includes the debts that we have borrowed and the leg room that we currently have. Governments operate in perpetuity. We are doing this for the next Government. We are doing this for the Budget of 2022/2023 Financial Year as a stop gap measure. As a country, we need to have a discourse on the issue of having an absolute figure where we say that our debt is a particular figure, and discuss whether we need to put it as an anchor figure to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In a layman’s comparison, if you have a salary of Kshs10,000, maybe you can borrow up to Kshs7,000. But if your salary increases to Kshs20,000, you may have the latitude of borrowing up to Ksh15,000. When we grow our wealth in terms of the GDP, then it means we also need to have more leg room for borrowing. Hon. Speaker, as I support, I wish to point out a few issues that the next administration may need to focus on. This current administration has focused on infrastructural developments, which can be seen everywhere. We have the super highways, express highways, electricity connections and all that. We now need to focus on the software and make sure that we have more industries, more people being employed and create more jobs for our youths. That is the challenge we have for our next Government. 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."
}