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{
    "id": 878635,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/878635/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 392,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Wundanyi, WDM – K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Danson Mwashako",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13509,
        "legal_name": "Danson Mwashako Mwakuwona",
        "slug": "danson-mwashako-mwakuwona"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I stand to support the Motion by the Budget and Appropriations Committee on the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) of the Financial Year 2019/2020. We expected the National Treasury to give us a more detailed BPS this year, but not just to bring a document like it has been the norm. It comes every February to this House, but it does not spell in details the policies that we expect to inform the Budget Estimates that will come in May, and the Budget that will be presented to this House in June. There are a few things that we, as a country and Parliament, must honestly deliberate and discuss. One, I would like to speak about the issues of public debt. Year in, year out, the National Treasury brings figures that do not agree with the economists who are not there. Everytime you ask them what is happening, they give you very alarming numbers. However, the National Treasury always tells us that the public debt that stands at about Kshs5 trillion or 50 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is within the accepted levels. They tell us that presently the net value of our debt is 48 per cent. We know that these figures can be manipulated, so that they arrive at a figure that is below what the law provides. It provides that presently the net value for public debt should not exceed 50 per cent of the GDP. However, the National Treasury gave us a figure of 48 per cent, but we know that this country is not doing well. We pay so much debt that we are not able to pay for other Government programmes. It is not right because every shilling we collect through KRA as revenue in this country goes to service the debt. Our repayment of the debt was at 0.5 per cent in 2013 and we are talking about 2.5 per cent today which is five times more."
}