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    "id": 769152,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/769152/?format=api",
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    "content": "address this, no matter the number of investors you bring to the city and the kind of plans we have, we will not be able to sort out the problems. The reason there is a weak revenue base and poorly performing revenue collection is because there has been reluctance by the previous administrations to automate revenue collection and fight the cartels within the city. Of course, you cannot fight a cartel that you are part of. That is why I am keen on playing that oversight role to make sure that the more than 140 revenue streams in this city are fully automated. Unless you automate revenue collection and reduce as much as possible the human interaction with cash in terms of revenue collection and reduce the multiplicity of licences required for business people to operate, you will not be able to raise revenues. I know some businessmen who had to have 17 licences to operate. The lack of information to those businessmen has really affected them. Somebody may just come and tell them that they do not have fire extinguishers and they are fined. The revenue officer will then tell his colleagues to go there again. The next day they get fined because of the first aid box, another day it is the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) licence, another day it is the PRSK, and so on. That discourages investment. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will ask for a little bit more time. We need to look at that revenue collection system, accountability mechanisms and user charges. We need to adopt cost recovery pricing strategies to ensure that we have sustainable service provision and computerize that customer base. Through that we will be able to mobilize private capital for urban development. The third plank is urban economy. We are talking about 70 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), mainly dominated by the informal sectors. What are we doing to ensure financial inclusion for the informal sector in the urban areas? A well- functioning urban economy is able to retain local and foreign investment and is a city of equality. However, you must strengthen the industrial base in Nairobi, fast-track regulatory reforms, but promote transparent procedures to allocate industrial land. It is only through industrialisation that we will solve security because the biggest challenge to security is unemployment of our young people. I am glad, again, that in his inauguration speech, His Excellency the President, reduced by 50 per cent, the electricity tariffs charged in industries between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. That alone will go a long way in making sure that we increase that base. Of course, there is the creative economy. Nairobi County is not just the hardware and the mechanics. There is a spirit and soul in this City. There are the arts and our musicians. We have our young people in the creative economy who need to be encouraged and given spaces through which to express themselves and explore. We must see the creative economy as a serious economic frontier; not as a favour. You will be shocked that in a country like Nigeria, the creative economy is the second highest income earner after oil. It is the second biggest contributor to the GDP. We have as much talent in Nairobi, in many of our urban areas and even in the rural areas. Thirdly, and this is where many Members have based much of their contribution, is urban planning. We have lost track of the zones in the City; of what to build where. Every day I get complaints from people whose children cannot sleep because of discos in the neighbourhood. It is a sorry state. The prices of real estate have gone down. People The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}