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{
    "id": 509246,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/509246/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 329,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Limo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1915,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Kirui Limo",
        "slug": "joseph-kirui-limo"
    },
    "content": "Therefore, if the Government wants to plan, I believe they are not going to borrow, all what we are doing now is just to allow them a leeway to borrow up to Kshs2.5 trillion. It does not say that when you give somebody a cheque book which contains 50 leaves and you are the same person who is going to approve the expenditure using that cheque leaf, there is no worry. I am really worried that our friends who are opposing fear that the Government will spend this money at ago and it will spend it carelessly. You realize that we allowed the Government to borrow from outside the other day. The request passed through this House and therefore, there is no need of worrying that the Government will spend all this money. Hon. Speaker, I respect my friend, though he is not here now, hon. Aden, when he was adding up what the Government needs to use for expansion of electricity and to build the Standard Gauge Railway. He was adding up and assuming that we are right now approving additional money for the Government to use. I want to say that you will only plan if you have some freedom from pressure of where you will get the money. The Government will want that assurance that as they are planning for all the projects which are going to take this country to a very high level within five years, they will have leeway of borrowing. It is not that they are going to borrow immediately. From the economics which I learnt some time back, I remember very well that there is always a multiplier effect of any dollar you spend on productive activities. I know in the short run, the expenditure which the Government is going to spend is going to help the economy grow. It is going to be bitter in the short run, but in the long run, the worries of how we are going to pay will be answered. When the economy grows, the impact will be more revenue collected through taxes by the Government because there will be economic activities which will be happening. There will be many industries growing not only in Industrial Area in Nairobi, but also in the rural areas. If you look at the 10,000 kilometers of road that the Government is going to build soon, 80 per cent of those roads will be in the rural areas. How will that help? It will help because most of the people who are jobless are in the rural areas. When investors will be coming to this country, because they will already have been told that the infrastructure is good and the cost of power is low, they will be looking for labour. So, if they will consider working in the rural areas, one of the biggest advantages is that the cost of living is lower there. You do not need to provide housing for the rural people; they will be operating from their own houses. So, the economy will grow. In fact, I was hoping that our friends will realize that if you distribute these roads the way we were suggesting, there will be tremendous development. If we say that every constituency must have 20 kilometres of tarmac road every year or if we imagine that you get around 50 kilometres of tarmac road in your constituency which join to highway, and 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."
}