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"id": 224932,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/224932/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
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"speaker": {
"id": 193,
"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am always perplexed in this House when we stand up and applaud when we are asking for a paltry sum of money like Kshs13 billion, in a country that prides itself to be a magnet for development in Africa. That is peanuts! When I look at the revised Consolidated Fund Services estimates and realise that we have a total of Kshs73 billion to pay interest and debt redemption, and I ask a Minister how much we earn from exports in the same period, then I get really worried that what we are paying in terms of interest for both domestic and external debt, and debt redemption, cannot even be redeemed by our earnings from our exports. That is interest alone. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when I look at my books and see what is earned by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in Mombasa, what is finally banked by the Minister in the books of Government and what is wasted at that Port, then I say that really, if that was done properly, the Minister would not be coming to this House to ask for some money from us as Supplementary Estimates, notwithstanding the fact that the money is so little that it is not worth wasting the time of the Members of Parliament asking for it in the first place. The wastage in Mombasa Port, were it to be taken into account would, more than four times, cover for the kind of money the Minister is asking for. In other words, I would expect the Minister, before the Budget this year, to bring to this House a Sessional Paper on debt, aid and development, for the hon. Members of Parliament to understand exactly what predicament this country is in, in terms of useless debts that we are paying back; debts which never financed any development in this country and which, indeed, are a burden on the shoulders of Kenyan people, because of mismanagement. What we need in this Government is not debt calculation or that kind of thing, but proper debt management. If you are doing business in capitalistic societies there is nothing wrong with being in debt. In fact, being in debt is part of business. I do believe that any Government has a right to be in debt. Even the United States of America (USA) is in debt. But the most important thing is how you manage your debt and what you use that debt for. The verdict in the history of our Government is that debt has always been incurred for wrong reasons. The money borrowed has never been used for development in this country and, subsequently, the management of that debt is awful. So, the Minister needs to bring to the House a Sessional Paper on debt, aid and development, so that Parliamentarians can understand April 24, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 873 the predicament of our country. In presenting the Supplementary Estimates with regard to the Development Expenditure, the Minister partly said: \"Having regard to the proposed reduction of Kshs3,240,846,105---\". We are reducing the Development Estimates. When shall we develop? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I hear people applauding the Minister for Energy for the good work that the KPLC is doing in supplying electricity. But this is something that was overdue. That is why I was talking about economic recovery. We are recovering from lost ground. We should be chastising ourselves by looking at what was possible 20 years ago. While on electricity, I have always told the Minister for Energy several times in this House that the quality of service of supplying that electricity leaves a lot to be desired. Electricity is a very sensitive commodity. If you erect a pole which will fall down in a year's time, it is a danger to the citizens. In my own constituency, a young girl aged 16 years was electrocuted recently after an electric pole fell down. The quality of service delivery of this electricity is very important, because electricity is a very sensitive commodity. So, while I would applaud the Minister for recovering lost ground in the beginning to supply electricity to the country, let us, for God's sake, have proper supply of this electricity. Let us give this contract to people who will implement it properly, and not erect poles which will fall down when the rains come. In my constituency, it is raining now as if the rain is going out of fashion, and the poles which were erected are already bending. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}