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{
    "id": 1213916,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1213916/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 287,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kisumu East, Independent",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Shakeel Shabbir",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 140,
        "legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
        "slug": "shakeel-shabbir"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Temporary Speaker, the Public Debt Management Office is meant to be an autonomous office, but the National Treasury decides what it wants and how much money it needs to borrow. The office looks for the most suitable place to borrow money from at the best rate. They are meant to be professionals in raising money from the money market. But what are they doing? They are doing nothing. What happens is that the Cabinet Secretary goes to IMF to meet the so-called vulture financiers. They agree on short-term debt for long-term projects and then they come back and tell us that we must pay. I hope the Committee insists that the Public Debt Management Office becomes autonomous. It was the same problem when the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) was under the National Treasury, and it could bully the CBK. But the CBK is now autonomous. We also need the Public Debt Office to be autonomous so that we can actually plan. I urge this Committee to ensure that they first do a forensic audit. I can tell you with great confidence that the Ksh9 trillion is not the correct amount. As my colleague from Emuhaya indicated, they have not included sovereign debts, separate sovereign guarantees involved, guarantees and contingent liabilities. None of these things have been added on. In other countries, as you understand, contingent debt is a contingent debt. It should be added on to get the right balance. We do not really know what our external public debt is. The Government should also reduce the amount that they can borrow from the domestic market. As our colleague has just indicated, it is very important because the interest rate also rises. When the Goldenberg issue was in full fledge, the rate of Treasury Bill was 75 per cent. So, in my view, the Government should stop borrowing from the domestic market. I hope that this Committee will be able to take up on the Debt Management Act that was passed in the last Parliament. They should also strengthen the Debt Management Office to be autonomous and to act with speed. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me the extra time."
}