Kikuyu Member of Parliament Kimani Ichungwah has weighed in on why Parliament decided to approve the government's move to raise the debt ceiling.
Speaking in his constituency where he celebrated Christmas with his constituents, the outspoken governing Jubilee party legislator said that the debt ceiling was raised so as to help the government get money to complete unfinished projects.
He said that the parliamentary approval came subject to the understanding that all the borrowed funds would not be channelled into recurrent expenditure but rather into development projects.
''We helped the government in its push for the debt ceiling to be raised so that all projects that have stalled are completed and as parliament and the budgetary committee we demanded that all the borrowed money should go into projects (Tuliweza kusaidia kuhakikisha ya kwamba serikali imeongeza debt ceiling ili kama ni projects ambazo zilikuwa zimekwama, fedha ambazo wataweza kuomba na kama bunge na kamati la bajeti tumeambia serikali ya kwamba ni lazima wahakikishe ya kwamba fedha zote ambazo tutaenda kukopa nje zitakopwa ziingie kwa miradi), '' the Kikuyu MP said.
The decision by parliament to raise the debt ceiling to Sh9 trillion shillings was met with an uproar by a section of Kenyans who contended that the country was already deep in debt.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has defended his government's borrowing saying that the borrowed funds are going into development projects.