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{
    "id": 1266709,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1266709/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 309,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me the opportunity to contribute on this Report on the Public Debt and Privatisation Committee on Consolidated Fund Service expenditure under the Financial Year 2023/2024 Budget Estimates. Let me echo the statements of the Vice-Chair, that probably, this is the wrong time to bring this Report here. It ought to have preceded the Budget Estimates as well as the Finance Bill because you can only decide how much to borrow or raise when you know your total liabilities. The CFS are established pursuant to our Constitution, and they cover debt and payment of some important commissions, and specifically the President and his Deputy under Article 151. In the wisdom of this House, towards the end of the last Parliament, we created this Committee to specifically focus on the issue of public debt because this has been a thorny issue that is mostly debated in the country. Many times during political campaigns, we use the public debt as a campaign tool, but once we get elected into office, we relax and go back to our old ways. If you look at the Report of the Auditor-General, you will realise that they note with apprehension that the amount of public debt has been increasing substantially since 2018 from Ksh4.8 trillion to close to Ksh10 trillion. We have always asked why during that time the GDP growth rate has been subdued. That means that debt has not been used in the productive sectors of the economy. I hope the Members of the Committee are here. The most disappointing thing is the disproportionate allocation for servicing foreign debt and domestic debt. If you look at the figures, we are talking about Ksh1.3 trillion going to service local debt and yet about Ksh600 billion is probably what goes to service foreign debt. In a country with very low saving levels and a small financial market, honestly, excessive borrowing from the domestic market is going to stifle and eventually kill this economy. It will rob local businesspeople money that they would otherwise invest in productive ventures."
}