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{
    "id": 1213820,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1213820/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 191,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " I take this opportunity to appreciate my Chairman for moving the Motion, and all the Members of the Committee. I also take this opportunity and more sincerely, thank Parliament. The wisdom behind creating this Committee must be appreciated. Public debt has become a contentious issue in this country and because of that, the creation of the Public Data and Privatisation Committee has enabled Members to look into issues of public debt in detail. If you look at Container Freight Station (CFS) expenditures, you realise that out of the total amount which has been spent, 88 per cent is actually being taken by public debt repayments. This means that it is a matter that we as a House, must seriously discuss and make appropriate recommendations, so that we can help Kenyans and our future generations. I only have five minutes, and I want to talk about figures so that we can help Kenyans appreciate this matter. If you look at the amount we are paying in terms of repayments, our loans and more so, external borrowing, is dominated in foreign currency. It is worth noting that as a result of the exchange rate fluctuations, in the 2021/2022 Financial Year, this country paid a total Ksh5.4 billion as a result of fluctuations of the exchange rate. Half of this year, we have paid Ksh2.05 billion as a result of the changes in the exchange rate. For purposes of managing our public debt properly and more so external debt, as a country, it is important we do two things. We should either negotiate our local loans in local currency so that whatever we are 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."
}