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{
    "id": 1378649,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1378649/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 305,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "accommodating this. If you look at the issue of the pending bills, it is a matter we have discussed in this House many times. Our business people, entrepreneurs and people who are in the service industry go to banks to borrow millions of money and invest to produce goods and services that they sell to the Government. After they sell to the Government, it takes a year before they are paid. Yesterday’s paper was saying – if you look at the Report by the Parliamentary Budget Office – that Kenya owes its own business men about Ksh796 billion in unpaid bills. These are our fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. What is happening now is that some of them are getting sick because of high blood pressure, some are dying of stress and others are committing suicide because they cannot manage their debts and the Government is here clapping. As a House, we need to make a firm decision to push the Executive. I agree with the Member who proposed that we borrow this money through infrastructure bonds or through another Eurobond and we pay our own people. There will be one advantage with that. The advantage is that the business men and women will engage in economic activities and spur growth in the economy because their economic activities will trigger demand and the demand will trigger production and, at the end of the day, there will be economic growth and we will collect more money from the same Kenyans. When you do not pay them, the same problem will recur and it will become a vicious cycle. We want the economy to grow and we are not empowering our people to do economic activities. What will happen is that the economy will stagnate. The other point that is important is the public debt. When Hon. Mbadi was moving debate on this Report, he said something which is very worrying. Some Ministries, Departments and Agencies went out there to sign and contract loans, and got the loans committed. For the last five to ten years, they have not drawn a single cent on those loans. What is the Government doing? The Government is paying commitment fee. If my memory serves me right, in our last Report as the Public Debt and Privatisation Committee, the last figures showed that for the last six months of last year, the Government had paid Ksh580 million as commitment fee. Can you imagine how many classrooms and dispensaries can be constructed using that money? We are paying that money because somebody somewhere sat and signed for a loan that was not properly appraised and that loan is now being committed. We are paying for a loan we are not using. Why should such an accounting officer be in office? Why should we pay salary to such a person? These are the major issues. Even as Hon. Mbadi tables this good Report with very clear recommendations, we need to decide as a House. If our Committee on Implementation could be working excellently – we need to strengthen that Committee – these are some of the recommendations that it should take and run with. We will save this country so much resources that there will be no need to float a Eurobond. We will get enough money to sort out our people."
}