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{
    "id": 865515,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/865515/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 95,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13184,
        "legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
        "slug": "abshiro-soka-halake"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity. I will start by congratulating Sen. Wambua. As it has been said, the issue of debts and debt management starts from the national Government itself, where our debts are becoming unsustainable and the counties are doing the same things. What I have noted is that, every county has a County Medium Term Debt Management Strategy. I do not know what those strategies are for, or are they are just pieces of paper that are written to fulfill certain requirements. In the past, we have been told - for instance, in the case of other counties like Isiolo and Nairobi counties - that they were verifying the debts. This is understandable. If you come into office and find some debts have been incurred and you do not know how they were done---. We were told that these were being verified. I do not know if that is the case for Kitui County. The cure for debt is to pay. Therefore, these counties must pay this debt. We do not care how they verify, but the verification must also happen within a reasonable time. It cannot be that certain debts are predating 2013 and even going to the old town councils. They include statutory obligations that are not being paid by counties and loans granted by financial institutions, most importantly, the supplier payments, which are critical. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, sometimes you go to a county office and you that find that the internet has been suspended. You find that all the services including electricity has been cut. Even garbage is rotting there. It is becoming a real issue. When they are not paying the suppliers, it becomes an issue of services not being provided to the residents of the counties even as we speak now because of this issue. If our mandate under Article 96 of the Constitution is to protect counties and their governments, then this is one area that this House must take very seriously in order to ensure that the sustainability of the counties---"
}