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{
    "id": 993190,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/993190/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 161,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have also recommended to cushion these businesses. This is because in our meeting---You have noticed that I have returned it because I have somebody close to me. That is the Ministry of Health protocol. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Cabinet Secretary for Health demonstrated to us that he had PPEs that have been imported from China, other countries, and local PPEs. He called the medical personnel, removed the tags and asked them which ones they preferred. They did the tests and said that the local ones are very good. Why can we not buy Kenyan at this point? Why are we still importing, yet many Kenyans are able to produce the masks and the PPEs locally? Mr. Speaker, Sir, in this Report, Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) must give us the quota of the local production that they are relying on and all other agencies that are procuring publicly. This is because there is a list. Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBS) came and gave us a list of more than 60 companies that they have certified for the production of masks and 26 local companies that they have certified for the production of PPEs. They said that they are of higher quality than those we are importing. Why are we, therefore, importing? Let us support our own home-grown industries. Our Jua Kali artisans must provide the infrastructure for hand washing, like the stands for the water basins in markets. Let us go to them. Let us not have to always believe that anything that is imported is better. Mr. Speaker, Sir, to contain public debt at sustainable levels, the Committee recommends that the National Treasury- (1) Takes decisive action to curtail spending through austerity measures, to reduce the size of the fiscal deficit. (2) Reduces to the extent possible commercial borrowing by gradually shifting to concessional loans. (3) Implements domestic debt reform to lower cost and risk of domestic borrowing by shifting away from Treasury bills to Treasury bonds. (4) Cancels or reallocates non-disbursing external loans, dormant loans to priority projects. (5) Strengthens the capacity of the Public Debt Management Office and implement debt and borrowing policy anchored on the best practice, to improve the effectiveness of the Public Debt Management Office. (6) Staggers contracting of the current external loans in the pipeline over the financial years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. (7) Refinances high cost external debt estimated at USD3 billion. That is the high cost and not the concessional or multilateral loans that we got at the better rates. They need to refinance those. (8) Negotiates with key creditors, especially Exim Bank of China, to restructure Bi-lateral basis, specific debts and debt for development swaps. This is the time to engage in those swaps or debt development. (9) Negotiates on bi-lateral basis swapping of debts service for grants financing key development projects on the Big Four Agenda Four, climate change and now focus on what the real issues are. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}