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{
    "id": 1393842,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1393842/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 272,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you have seen that from last year to now, the fiscal consolidation structure that we have faced as a country is that of increasing taxes. Now, the problem with this is that the moment you take that direction of increasing taxes over reducing expenditure, then the population is bound to suffer. It is like having a calf and you are trying to get the milk from the cow. You then take even the last bit of the milk that the calf is supposed to survive on so that you cannot milk the cow the next day. As we are having a conversation around this mid-term debt management strategy, the Senator who moved this Report, which is our report as a committee, Sen. Faki, had talked and alluded to so many parts of what constitutes the strategies that the Government is trying to put in place. Those that we saw as a committee that were important to this particular Report to the House. My conscience will not rest if I do not prick the conscience of the Senators to be able to start thinking about other ways of ensuring that there is proper fiscal consolidation in this country. This is important because this mid-term debt management strategy comes at a time when we have just passed the BPS. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when you look at the BPS, there are some areas that we are going to spend money on in this year’s budget. Those are the areas that I think we could rethink, especially on what we want to spend on. I know Sen. Olekina did allude to this, but I wanted to give it a perspective. For instance, if you talk about the budget that we are going to have in the State House of Kshs352 billion, not Kshs364 as that is what passed in the BPS--- I just wanted to inform my brother Sen. Olekina that it was Kshs352 billion. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this almost averages an expenditure of between Kshs800 million to Kshs1 billion a day in one single function. That kind of spending is so huge and those are areas that we can easily contract our budget in terms of our fiscal deficit. Despite the fact that our fiscal deficit is injuring the country, it is actually manageable; that is why we use the words ‘sustainable debt management’. If you think about it, there have been pronouncements from the Executive both in the previous Government and in this Government, that in this country, we are losing Kshs2 billion every day to corruption. If you do the maths, that means in the whole year, we are losing exactly the Kshs700 billion that we want to go out there and borrow. Why are we losing money as a country? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we are losing that money in areas of procurement by the Government where you find that in procurement offices, things are constantly inflated. This one you see with procurement officers and you see them in national Government as well as in county government. Therefore, we end up losing so much money as a country to the extent that if we were to deal with the menace of corruption in this country--- I have seen in some counties, a simple budget such as a budget of domestic travel and subsistence and sometimes hospitality skyrocketing to unimaginable numbers. If there was a way of being able to control that, then you can ensure there is a fiscal consolidation--- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}