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{
    "id": 1592990,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1592990/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 458,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Deputy Speaker, before Hon. John Mbadi became the Minister for Finance, we sat with him in this House. He used to sit here then he moved there. I used to seat somewhere there. Every time the finance minister came, we used to ask why he had not implemented the Single Treasury Account (STA) so that we consolidate all the funds. We are actually borrowing our own money and paying it back with interest. We have money in several bank accounts. When you go to the KCB and say you want an overdraft, they will give you your own money that is lying in their bank from another MDA. This government must ensure that we embrace the STA system. I do not know the experts here. I know that Hon. Makali Mulu is an expert on this, he might tell us why. Why is it very difficult to embrace STA? What are the interests? I now have to speak like the Member for Kilifi North. I am asking, why is it difficult to establish STA to consolidate idle government cash balances to improve liquidity management and lower the government borrowing costs? Why is it difficult? We know that is one of the panacea that we can use to consolidate funds and stop the problem of cash flow that we have. Hon. Deputy Speaker, another very important thing that I would like to speak about – apart from the single Treasury account – is that we have an opportunity to redeem this country. We are passing laws, for example, the Conflict of Interest Bill that probably some multilateral or bilateral lenders are pushing down our throats for funding. Because we are looking for money, we are told to do unpalatable things like passing a certain Bill, and do this and that. We rely on lenders and loans. Therefore, we must be pushed through a path that we do not like. If we consolidate all our funds, have one STA and be careful about the loans that we borrow, we may not have to go to multilateral lenders. President Mwai Kibaki did it and it can still be done today. We can run our economy, the sixth largest economy in Africa, on funds that are available without raising a single tax. If we do all these things, we can bring down all taxes and still manage our economy. I believe all is possible. The only problem is that we are careless in our borrowing and when we get the money, we are not ready to implement projects while the money is lying in our accounts. We eventually borrow money that has been loaned to us. We actually pay double. We pay the interest and commitment fees, and go back to the same bank to borrow money to pay salaries. We need to find a way out. What is wrong with having one single account for counties? You will find that one county government has a lot of money that it is not using while another The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}