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{
    "id": 1229666,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1229666/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 410,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " If revenue is not paid, salaries will not be paid and we will not give farmers production subsidies. If revenue is not there, this country will not meet its targets and pay the heavy debts that the handshake regime brought into this country. It is on record and there is even an Act of Parliament here that says that certain families be prevented from paying taxes. It is in this House and it is those things that have put this country in a hole. In this Government, what we are saying is that we want to finance this Government and its operations through local revenue which will come from the big farms. Local revenue will come from those people who have for many years evaded to pay taxes because they are in power. We are saying this Government will fix this economy using local revenue. Secondly, we know this country is in debt. If you ask the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and National Planning today, he will tell you that we have the first charge on Government which is to pay debt. Today, we must pay the debts which were taken to pay Helios Investment Partners. Today, we must pay the debts that were taken to pay for Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA). Today, we must get money to ensure that we pay for the things that were taken. We saw the Budget here and we know that this Government lost a lot of money. How will the Government pay these international debts? It is the first charge on the Budget. The first charge on the Budget means, first we have to pay debts before we start thinking of paying salaries. That is what economics is about on Government. So today, if someone here says we have not been paid salary, you should ask those people who took those big and many loans how they were expecting them to be paid first, including subsidies. Secondly, subsidies were paid, but the people who were supposed to have been paid never received the money and those are facts. Today, we are paying debts. If you ask the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and National Planning, he will tell you that the first charge on Budget is to pay international obligations. When international obligations are paid, you make noise. Why do you make noise? Hon. Opiyo Wandayi, the Hon. Leader of the Minority Party was here defending the handshake regime and today he is talking about the high cost of living. The cost of living will continue to skyrocket."
}