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{
    "id": 975429,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/975429/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 197,
    "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": "When the new Cabinet Secretary appeared before us seeking to increase the debt ceiling, one of the conditions we agreed on was that he was going to work on a strategy of reducing our commercial debt, debt restructuring or balance sheet restructuring. He was going to reduce the commercial debts and increase more the concessionary loans. When the Budget Policy Statement was brought before us, one thing we must thank the Cabinet Secretary for is that he has reduced domestic borrowing. Projected domestic borrowing is reducing with over Ksh70 billion. That is positive for the economy because we are not going to crowd out the private sector. However, commercial debt is increasing. As the Chair said, it has increased from Ksh213 billion to Ksh274 billion. We asked the Cabinet Secretary that his Budget Policy Statement is not in tandem with the promise he gave to Parliament and the people of Kenya. He told us that part of the Ksh274 billion is not commercial loans despite the fact they have categorised it as commercial loans. He said that part of that money is going to be borrowed from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and, therefore, it is semi-concessionary. They have introduced a terminology I rarely meet in budgets of Government. They claim that part of it is semi-concessionary and semi- commercial. A loan can be concessionary or commercial. I do not see where the semi- concessionary is coming in. But we gave him the benefit of the doubt. We told him to go and bring to us facts and figures by categorising the Ksh274 billion and tell us, out of that amount, how much is pure commercial loan and at what interest rate and for what project. That is because we are not going to approve another Budget where we are borrowing money to finance projects that are not spelt out. That is the problem we have had and Kenyans condemn this House for approving anything that comes from the Executive. We are not going to repeat it. We were promised the Report yesterday. Up to today, I am sad to report that we have not been given the Report. Hon. Speaker, do you think the technocrats at the National Treasury can by mistake categorise what is not a commercial loan as one? The answer is no, given the way I know economies work. Someone is taking us for a ride. This time, Hon. Members, let us not allow the National Treasury to take us for a ride. If they will not tell us why they are increasing commercial loans and why they are borrowing more and yet they promised us that they would borrow less, let us reject that proposal by the Government to borrow more commercial loans because it is hurting this country. We cannot be in a hole and continue to dig. We are already in a hole. We have to correct this mess. We cannot continue digging this hole. That is my plea. On the issue of public debt, the Hon. Chairman dealt with it properly. I noted that about 2 to 5 per cent of our recurrent expenditure is financed from borrowing. That is for the Budget and Appropriations Committee to look at as we have asked them to do."
}