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{
    "id": 941494,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/941494/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 410,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is very good information. A sum of Kshs59 billion is very far from Kshs23 billion. I picked the figure of Kshs63 billion from the media. The media must have picked it from Government documents. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to end so that other colleagues can contribute. This country is in problems. You do not solve your problems by adding more problems. We have borrowed and we want to borrow even more. We even asked the Acting Cabinet Secretary: “If you are not going to dash to the Kshs9 trillion that you are asking for, why not withdraw these regulations and bring new ones tomorrow? We will be the champions of passing them in the House.” He was not ready and said it is either Kshs9 trillion or nothing. That means that it is already set. Thirdly, the point that the Senator for Kericho brought, this is a list we were shown by the Cabinet Secretary of some of the mega projects that they will undertake with the opening of the debt ceiling. It is like some of our counties are not in this country. Running all the way from Wes Pokot, Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Kakamega, Vihiga, Busia and Siaya, there is not a single project. We are opening up the debt ceiling by Kshs3 trillion and they are going to other projects. Where is equity in the country? Everybody pays taxes and expects development. More importantly, the untruth that by opening the debt ceiling we are going to allow counties to borrow must be debunked. If the counties have already accumulated unpaid bills of Kshs110 billion, how are they going to manage any further borrowing if we allow them to borrow? If we go to our counties, whether it is Sen. (Prof.) Ongeri’s Kisii County or Sen. Wamatangi’s Kiambu County, young boys who take small loans of Kshs500,000 to do public jobs can never be paid. They are all being auctioned everywhere. They are all victims of shylocks. We cannot tell the country that by opening up this debt ceiling, we will allow counties to borrow when counties cannot pay with the money they already have. That does not fly. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to urge this House that today in this House as Senators of the Republic of Kenya, let us go on record as not being rejectionist philosophers, but as a House of reason that tells the National Treasury and the Government that: “Yes, we can open your ceiling, but not to the level you want to take this country to a Gross Domestic Report (GDP) equal to a debt ceiling.” This is because"
}