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{
    "id": 1319695,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1319695/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 311,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiambaa, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Njuguna Kawanjiku",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The President addressed the nation. I can confirm that most of what he talked about was the preparation to take our nation to the next level. He talked about debt that has really choked this country. It is good for our friends from the Minority Party to appreciate where this nation is. We need a lot of intervention across the board. I agree that there is a lot of political goodwill. If you look at what the President and former Prime Minister are doing in bilateral talks, they are trying to bring our nation back to track. When we took over from the last regime, this country was really messed up by the handshake brothers. The debt is choking our nation. The President confirmed that almost Ksh500 billions of our national revenue that we are collecting will pay debts. We must also appreciate that there are a lot of external forces when our Kenya shilling is not doing well. I sit in the Budget and Appropriations Committee. We had to re-allocate funds. We had to do what you call budget cuts for us to take care of interest rates that have increased by about Ksh150 billion. We did not take a loan. We did not borrow. Due to inflation and fluctuations of the Kenya Shilling, we are losing to the tune of about Ksh40 billion almost every day our shilling loses value against the dollar. We have many responsibilities and yet, we must honour our international obligations of paying our debt. We congratulate the President because he has said we cannot continue to borrow and that we must look for ways and means to sustain ourselves as a nation. On top of that, he brought the subsidies. I want to correct the Member who said there is no fertiliser of Ksh2,500. That fertiliser is even in my constituency. I am a farmer. I am learning how to farm because we must do what we call collective responsibility. We must help the President make sure we sustain ourselves with food security in our nation, even if it is in our small farms of 100 by 100. I bought the fertiliser at Ksh2,500 even as a serving Member of Parliament. I bought it in my Kiambaa Constituency. I can even help her to access the Ksh2,500 fertiliser if she does not have it. It is ignorance of the highest order if she does not want to access the fertiliser. It is misleading to say that the fertiliser is still at Ksh6,500. As you are aware, we are expecting to have a bumper harvest for the first time. This is because we agreed that we were not going to do subsidies in consumption but in production. The subsidised fertiliser is to the tune of about 50 million bags. For the first time, we are certain that our country will attain food security reserves in the next year. He talked about Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions (TVETs). He stated that we must make sure to increase the number of TVETs in all constituencies. He also talked about Kenya Medical Training Colleges (KMTCs) and universal health. After you have gotten food to eat at any time of the day, the next big thing is your health. We appreciate what the President and the Executive are doing to re-organise the health sector and make sure hustlers access healthcare. Even if you do not have money to pay for the NHIF, the Government will pay so that you can access healthcare services every time you go to a hospital. The Government has done some of those interventions to make sure we take care of our people at the end of the day. The Hustler Fund is there. Whoever is saying that you cannot borrow Ksh4 million is misleading."
}