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{
    "id": 1353447,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1353447/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 313,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion. The question of debt in this country has pre-occupied Kenyans on television shows and various forums for many years. The amount of money we pay in foreign debt is a serious issue. During the State of the Nation Address, the President talked about debt. He said that Kenya is now paying approximately Ksh300 billion. The question then is: What did the money that was borrowed do? What did Eurobond do? In the other report on debt presented by Hon. Shurie, there were organisations in this country whose portfolio showed that they had borrowed but when asked they were not aware that money was borrowed for their organisation. So, where did that money go to? How was that organisation contracted to procure a loan which never went into its books? We found out from that report that loans had been borrowed on their behalf. For example, every Cabinet Secretary whose Ministry had, say, three parastatals used the opportunity to take loans on behalf of those parastatals from whichever country they visited. But we do not know where the money went to. Today, we are saddled with a debt portfolio almost getting to Ksh10 trillion. Recently, a debt anchor Bill was passed in this House and was signed into law by the President, because we have no more headroom for borrowing. We moved from a headroom of about Ksh10 trillion to a percentage of GDP. That means debt has become unmanageable. When that happens, we will have a problem of repaying that debt. Further, when we start repaying that debt we will have a liquidity problem because all the money that we have will be paid to other people. When a country starts having a liquidity problem, it experiences what we are currently experiencing. We cannot meet our internal obligations, like paying basic bills and salaries, which get delayed. This is why we close the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). We only open it to pay salaries and then close it. We then come up with a Supplementary Budget. This Supplementary Budget does not cure the fundamental issues. It only cures one liquidity issue. One wonders where the liquidity goes. The National Treasury has to collect all the money and pay debts."
}