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{
    "id": 661464,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/661464/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 353,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kang’ata",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1826,
        "legal_name": "Irungu Kang'ata",
        "slug": "irungu-kangata"
    },
    "content": "this country. We need to have several in Lamu and Mombasa. Therefore, any attempt to build a terminal must be supported by any country. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is a fundamental accounting principle which is usually expressed in form of an equation which reads: “Capital + Liability = Assets”. Therefore, we should never fear taking liabilities. This is because liabilities added to capital form an asset. In my assessment, there is nothing wrong in us taking loans so long as we can manage our debt portfolio. A question has been raised as to whether our debt is sustainable. There is a World Bank benchmark as to what percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) a country should take a loan. I have analysed our debt portfolio and we are within the World Bank standards which clearly shows that, indeed, we are yet to breach that standard. Our loan portfolio is still manageable and we should leverage on that. We should take loans, but not use them to pay recurrent expenditure. We should take loans to build roads and other infrastructural projects because it is this infrastructure which can make our economy to grow. When you look at the continents of the world such as Europe, America, and Asia, their population is stagnating. The only continent that has a young population is Africa. That means going forward, Africa is the place that is going to have the greatest economic activities because a young population is what powers an economy. Taking that into account it, therefore, means that we as Kenyans, must use our resources particularly our luck and the fact that we have a coastline to leverage on economic activities in a rising Africa. It makes all the sense to have a port and a terminal which is fuelled by a debt, so that we leverage and ensure that in the entire Horn of Africa from Eritrea, Ethiopia up to the south of the Sub-Saharan Africa, we have the best port. That can only happen if, indeed, we have a new terminal. Therefore, I support. This is a very good idea. There is nothing wrong with having a debt per se so long as that debt does not breach the benchmark of the ratio of debt vis-a-vis the GDP. Our GDP per capita is only Kshs1,200 per person. When we invest more in infrastructure, we shall double our GDP within this generation and ensure our living standards are raised. With those few remarks, I support."
}