HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1545682,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545682/?format=api",
"text_counter": 237,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "In fact, many people sometimes discuss about this administration and what has been its biggest achievement. While there is debate about the stellar reforms that have been initiated in the agriculture sector, today, you go to public gatherings with coffee farmers or wheat farmers, they appreciate the interventions that have been made that continue to show positive results. However, a keen student of economics management will point out to the fact that avoiding to default and how we have succeeded in the last two years to pay our debts in time still ranks extremely high as the biggest achievement of this administration. At the coming into power of this administration, a default was imminent. Madam Temporary Speaker, you will recall that in political circles, the conversation at that particular time was a matter of when, not if. There were predictions and it had been said this administration would not last more than three months. It was on account of the fact that people knew the landmines that had been left by the previous administration, where everyone was certain that we were going to default and that we are going to go into a financial crisis and a near collapse of our financial systems. How that has not happened remains to be for the history books. While this is a conversation that is perhaps beyond the understanding of many average people who, for one reason or the other, may not comprehend or follow through what this has been about, it remains to be one of the key achievements of this administration. The repaying of the Eurobond in good time, the near billion-dollar repayments of the Standard Gauge Railways (SGR) loan and another syndicated one from one of the commercial institutions - I forget the exact name - that has happened in the last six months, is something worth remembering. Madam Temporary Speaker, therefore, the question that we should ask ourselves as a House and as we consider this Report on the 2025 Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy is: What is it that you are doing to ensure that in future, we shall have a more sustainable economy without appearing to grow it actually to levels beyond our repayment abilities in the near future? If we keep on shifting goalposts, the way I see it being done, we will find ourselves in a very difficult time. We will keep on kicking the can down the road and then it will get to a point where it will no longer be possible to either repay debt and continue thriving. I therefore urge our colleagues in the Committee on Finance and Budget to take this work extremely seriously. I have read through this Report and I am impressed by what they have done, but there is a lot more that they can do. First, pointing out on things which I feel this Committee needs to lead this House into a conversation on, the country must be informed at every given budget-making season, including the Budget Policy Statement season that we are in on how well are we reducing on the fiscal deficit in the last two years. Is it from four percent? There was a promise that in Financial Year 2025/2026, which is the next financial, it, was going to drop beyond three percent. Is it possible, especially with the events of last year’s June, happening, where the Government is not able to realize sufficient revenue; and also, with the continuing growth on public expenditure, on critical expenditure. Sometimes our newspapers choose to be very simplistic and say, there is this Kshs3 billion that is being used for innovation or this or the other. While that is an 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."
}