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{
    "id": 1352628,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1352628/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 2388,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Let me first thank the Chairperson for moving the Motion well. We are discussing a very important matter to this country. As we are all aware, public debt has become the elephant in the room. Every Kenyan and every Government official is talking about it. This Report is very important. I urge my colleagues to take its recommendations very seriously because they will provide the roadmap as we move to the future. You have heard the Chairperson say that we signed for about 11 loans in the period that we are discussing, and only three have been disbursed. That means that the normal challenge of paying commitment fees for loans that have not been disbursed will continue. I wish the House would pass a resolution such that after the Report is adopted, we summon all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) that have borrowed money from different countries and are not using it. The National Treasury normally signs for loans while MDAs implement them. You will be surprised to learn that some MDAs have taken more than 10 years to withdraw loans that have been signed for. I urge my colleagues to support us so that such MDAs are summoned immediately after this Report is adopted by the House to explain why they are not drawing money and the reasons hindering them from doing so. Such loans can be cancelled if the reasons are not clear enough to the House. This House approved the Medium-Term Debt Strategy. We realised there were gaps despite our approval of this document. We sometimes approve the document, but we do not have a specific list of what will be funded. I recommend that in future, the National Treasury submits a specific list of projects and programmes that will be funded within that year as they submit the Medium-Term Debt Strategy. That will enable us to know what will be funded and oversee it effectively. Counter-part funding is also important. The Government is expected to fund part of those loans through counter-part funding. The Government signs off on certain loans, but counter-part funding was not factored into our annual budget process. If we get a list of all projects that will be funded through loans, we will ensure that there is counter-part funding for those specific projects so that we do not have loans that have been signed and yet, we cannot draw funds. It emerged that our technical capacity to negotiate for loans effectively is doubtful from our interactions with some of those MDAs and the National Treasury. We should make provisions to build the technical capacity of those who negotiate loans so that we get value for money as a country. We will continue seeing gaps if the people who negotiate for those loans do not have the right capacity. We also dealt with the matter of the Central Bank of Kenya overdraft. The law allows the National Treasury to only borrow up to a maximum of 5 per cent of the national revenue as an overdraft from the Central Bank of Kenya. How does a normal overdraft operate? Any time you get money, you reduce it to zero and start building up again to a specific time. The National Treasury is expected to end each financial year with zero overdraft facility as we move from one financial year to another. We realised that they end each year with an 80 per cent overdraft, meaning they have a very slim window for borrowing. Let me give an example. If our debt is Ksh80 billion and we borrow Ksh72 billion by the close of the year but do not clear it to zero, there will only be about Ksh80 billion to borrow in the following year. That complicates cash flow management. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}