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{
    "id": 947021,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/947021/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 245,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Mombasa. We cannot start that project. There is a financier to finance the project, but we cannot borrow the money because the law prohibits or stops us from doing that. There is a road from Garissa to Mandera, which is supposed to be financed through multilateral institutions. It cannot be constructed until and unless we allow the Executive, through a legislation, to borrow more money. The question that we need to address is whether we should allow the debt limit to go to Kshs9 trillion or a lower figure. That is the question the Budget and Appropriations Committee belaboured. The Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning also handled it. As we speak, the debt level is at Kshs5.8 trillion. If we borrow this year as we have planned, then the debt limit will go to Kshs6.4 trillion. The question is whether we should put a figure and then come back after two years to review it. That is possible. That is the direction many of us wanted us to take. However, the argument from the National Treasury, which also makes sense, is that when you are dealing with a multilateral institution like the World Bank, it needs and it will be more confident. The World Bank does not give the syndicated loans that we get from commercial banks. It needs transparency and fiscal discipline. For the World Bank and the IMF to be sure there is fiscal discipline, they need a long-term projection. For us to get into serious loan engagement and negotiation with the World Bank and other institutions like the IMF, we require something that would convince them that there is sustainability. Some of us got convinced that we need to give the Government a little more space to borrow."
}