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{
"id": 947069,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/947069/?format=api",
"text_counter": 293,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": {
"id": 1835,
"legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
"slug": "anthony-kimani-ichungwah"
},
"content": "Hon. Speaker, as leaders, we must be the ones showing our people the way. We have been told that our people are complaining that the economy is bad. Yes it is, but it is not because we are borrowing or we have exceeded the debt ceiling, but because there is no liquidity in the economy because the Government is not spending. Since when did you see in this country a situation where almost on the 10th October, not even a single shilling for development expenditure has been sent out to Government ministries? Even for the Constituency Development Fund. Those who have been here long enough can tell us that by now, we would be having money for bursary funds, at least, the first Kshs20 billion. Today, not a shilling of our bursary has been disbursed. Those are the issues that we are confronted with and we must make decisions, not what is politically expedient and what is exciting to the public out there, but on what would be right to do for the country. I want to finish by giving you a story. Ten years ago, I borrowed Kshs5 million from one of the commercial banks. I was repaying at about Kshs185,000 for a period of three years. After about two years, I bought a property in Kikuyu. I borrowed another Kshs3 million, which I was to repay Kshs154,000 for a period of three years. Every month, I would pay about Kshs335,000. I moved to one of the other banks to restructure my debt like what the Leader of the Majority Party was talking about. I took a loan of about Kshs10 million which I repaid in over ten years and ended up paying installments of about Kshs144,000 every month. What that did was to allow me to grow my wealth over time. Today, the property I bought for that Kshs3 million is worth close to about Kshs150 million. And my wealth has grown that way. I was also left with more cash in hand. So, when you see me donating money on a weekend you should know how wealth is grown. It is by managing and restructuring your debt to be able to do what the Government is asking you to do today. We have gone out of that. At least the Acting Cabinet Secretary has been bold enough to come before committees of this House and say, yes, in the last few years, we have made a few mistakes. We have gone out and taken commercial debts at 6, 7, and 8 per cent. It is a very expensive credit and we are paying very huge outlays, which if we restructure the debt, we can negotiate with our multilateral institutions, restructure our debt, pay off some of the loans, release more money into development projects that would spike economic growth and, therefore, reduce the amount of suffering and unemployment of our people. Therefore, I want to beg and plead with Members to rise to the occasion and show leadership to this nation. Yes, mistakes have been made in the past, but we cannot continue making those mistakes. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}