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{
    "id": 509215,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/509215/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 298,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker for giving me the chance to make my contributions to this Motion. You are aware that I had proposed an amendment to this Motion and it went to the Budget and Appropriations Committee. I want to report that when we went to the Budget and Appropriations Committee it, in a democratic way, declined the amendment and I stand by that position. However, that does not mean that I changed my position in terms of my opinion to this Paper. I am a student of economics and there are some basic facts I want to put forward. The first fact is that when you borrow and you use the money to do development projects, that borrowing is good. This is because you generate more income, you pay your loan and you remain with some which makes your economy to grow. At the same time we need to know that for you to borrow, it means that your own income is not enough to meet your needs. Therefore, you borrow to meet that deficit. That is why every year we talk about budget deficits because whatever we are generating as a country is not enough to undertake our development activities. That is why from that point of view, I would say that the intentions are very good in terms of why we want to borrow. However, looking at this Paper it is a bit worrying and that is why I was proposing an amendment. If you go to the Committee Report from page two, the Committee gives a brief of what was presented to the Committee by our own Parliamentary Budget Office. This is an office where the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), of which you are Chairman, has invested a lot of money to get experts to support Members of Parliament analyse financial matters and make conclusions and important observations. They should guide the Committee to make final decisions. Looking at this good office of ours which has been doing a very good job as said, they are not opposed to additional borrowing or increasing this ceiling. However, considering the request for additional borrowing or ceiling, and looking at what we are calling the low observation capacity of development expenditure, they are saying that it would be unfair. It would not be good for Kenyans to borrow more before we address how we use the funds that we borrow to undertake our development. What does that mean? My colleague, hon. Lang at, the Chairman of this Committee is saying that they want to borrow about Kshs5 trillion to undertake very important projects in this country which are going to be very beneficial to all areas, including Kitui where I come from. However, the question is: If you borrow and you do not use the money, we will still be where we are but we will have tied our necks and we will be supposed to pay that money. The other point which is coming out is that when we are being requested to raise this ceiling to Kshs2.5 trillion, it is like what we do with our credit cards when we go to a bank. The bank will always sweet talk you into having a credit card worth Kshs1 million. I know in your position they might even be talking to you to get a credit card worth Kshs3 million. Personally, I would be having one of Kshs100,000. What happens? The 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."
}