Nambale MP Sakwa Bunyasi has insisted on the importance of Kenya having a public debt management authority to keep check of the country’s rising debt. The MP sponsored a Bill in Parliament that seeks to establish a public debt management authority. The Bill has already been approved by the House budget and finance committees. Speaking to West FM during an interview, Bunyasi the contents detail that the authority if formed, will look into the economy and advise the government on loan deals and structures.
He said the authority will also look at deals agreed by the government and the pay durations, given that the state rarely divulges the details. On the increasing debt burden, he stated that loans should be sought in accordance with a country’s economic strength, “The loan a country takes should correspond to its economic strength, if that is adhered to then it will be easy to pay.”
He called out the government for poor loan payment structures. “For big projects like dam, road constructions they shouldn’t say they’ll pay in seven or ten years, probably by then you’ll just have finished construction and they haven’t generated the projected value yet,” he said. He added that projects budgeted for, mostly with burgeoning funds, should be able to directly benefit Kenyans, “They may be borrowing to only benefit a few people. They should ask themselves who gains and who loses.”
