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{
    "id": 1382405,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1382405/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 291,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "West Mugirango, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Stephen Mogaka",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "that there was this session going on and if they knew, why they kept off from it. Going forward, I suggest that the Committee goes an extra mile to ensure that even if we are going to conduct our proceedings live, the public should be involved. This is very important because it is the public that puts pressure on the Government to fulfil its election manifesto and election pledges which end up in the Appropriation Act and which invariably creates a budget deficit that has got to be filled through both external and domestic debt. Therefore, going forward, I want the public to be an integral part particularly in x-raying the level of public debt so that they give their input on the strategy that we need to employ, as a nation, to manage debt. My second observation is that there is no doubt that the National Treasury presided over the creation of the public debt, and it is the same National Treasury we are going to rely on going forward to implement the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS). I urge this Committee to go the extra mile for the sake of the Republic to ensure that the recommendations in this Report are followed to the letter. If we get off the road, we will suffer the public wrath and default on our financiers which will interfere or bring down the credit rating of this country that has a stellar performance in redeeming the Eurobond and meeting its international obligations. I also want to suggest to the Committee that, now that we are in the ICT era, let us create a platform for making online surveillance of what is happening with our public debt. The last I heard is that the public debt register is manual. Let us live the current age and let the Committee be upbeat to help us do the right thing. I call upon ourselves, as a House, to do our oversight role because, at the end of the day, this MTDS is extremely good. Let it not be yet another policy paper that will be gathering dust in the archives of our good Government offices in the Executive. Above all, I urge members of the public to be patriotic and support the country and the Budget because those debts were incurred to do projects. When duty calls upon the citizens of this country to make their contribution through taxes and to redeem those debts as well as support the development agenda, I call upon us all to rise to the occasion and do our obligations. I thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for allowing me to contribute."
}