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{
    "id": 1261826,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1261826/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 179,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "uncommitted loans which we have already signed up for but because we are not drawing, we are paying commissions. You will be surprised to realise that up to March this year, this country had paid about Ksh580 million for failure to withdraw loans which have already been approved. The other thing is the issue of the foreign exchange. Because of the way our foreign exchange regime is not stable, we end up spending a lot of money paying for the changes or what we call the volatility of the US Dollar and other foreign currencies. This is another area which we would want the House to take seriously because I could hear the Leader of the Majority saying that we need to come up with strategies of how to monitor this. It is time this country came up with a Sinking Fund for paying public debt. We should not be discussing the issue of how to pay for the Eurobond that we took in 2014. If we had a Sinking Fund, we would be paying that amount on an annual basis. By now we would just be waiting to issue the final payment for that Eurobond and we would not be straining Kenyans. Hon. Members will note that as a Committee, on the principle of borrowing, we have said that the generation borrowing should not be in a position to overburden the future generations. In technical terms, we call it the “Intergenerational equity.” As we borrow today, we must remember that our children and grandchildren will be expected to pay these loans because they are loans running for a period of between 30 years and 40 years. Therefore, there must be a procedure to ensure that we do not overburden our future generations. As we discuss public debt as a House, it is important that we take note of some of these important things so that we shield our future generations from unnecessary burden. We should take loans which by the time they mature, they will have generated enough income for the country. We should take loans that we can repay without overburdening our future generations. Last but not least, as a Committee, we are saying the application of the public debt - any money borrowed from outside Kenya and domestically - so long as it is a loan, must be applied for the intended purposes. We have seen a situation where Members were saying that some loans were being applied to projects which were not feasible - projects which do not generate income for the country, and which do not bring enough returns to the country. At the end of the day, we end up paying the debts using Exchequers from the Consolidated Fund as opposed to using resources being generated by the investments of these loans. Hon. Speaker, those are some of the things that we have done as a Committee. I urge that when we get to the Committee of the whole House, we amend this Bill to ensure that we do not lose our independence in terms of determining our public debt. At the same time, we should not allow a Department in the National Treasury to tell us how to relate with public debt because we have our own Parliamentary Budget Office with the capacity to advise us as a House. I beg to second, and I want to thank Members for the many days we sat together to discuss this Bill. I want to thank everybody who was involved including our stakeholders. Thank you. I second."
}