Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1003227,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1003227/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 311,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kilifi North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13373,
        "legal_name": "Owen Yaa Baya",
        "slug": "owen-yaa-baya"
    },
    "content": "House. As it is now, this country is suffering from drought. Many areas in this county have suffered severe drought. Trees have already gone. If we start taxing LPG, what is likely to happen is that people will revert back to charcoal. If we revert back to firewood and charcoal, the rate of desertification in this country will rise very fast. I hope when we move to the Committee of the whole House, we will drop the proposed tax on LPG. If you look at petroleum products, LPG has the highest tax right now at 14 per cent. Petrol and kerosene are not taxed that much. LPG affects so many households. Households that can afford Kshs500 and Kshs600 to buy LPG for cooking should be encouraged to do that instead of being discouraged. If not encouraged, they will instead go back to firewood and charcoal. I would like to commend the reduction of taxes on ambulances and ambulance services. That is a great move. There are many people who suffer in their homes. They would have wished to get an ambulance to go to hospital, but the cost is prohibitive. To reduce tax on them is mitigating affordable health care and making sure that those who are sick can afford decent movement from their homes to where they will get medical services. On taxation on home ownership saving plans, this country talks about affordable housing for everybody. It wants everybody to own a house or have money to buy a house. What we are doing in this Budget is putting a tax on home ownership saving plans. That counters one of the Government’s Big Four Agenda on affordable housing. If we tax home ownership saving plans, it means, therefore, we are reducing the amount of money that a person will have to buy a house. That is not a good tax. I hope the Committee will look at it and see how we can remove it. It is a high rate of taxation. That is one of the things that we need to ensure that we deal with. Lastly on Export Processing Zones (EPZs), the economy as it is, exports and imports have become difficult because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our EPZs and the African Growth and Opportunity Act, (AGOA) treaty - which still exists - allows us to sell 20 per cent of what we have to the domestic market. But I can see a good move from the CS that, at least, 50 per cent of the EPZ products can be sold to the domestic market. That means securing jobs that exist within the EPZ and that will ensure that families have disposable income. While this Budget has given some good things to Kenyans, it has also taken away certain fundamental incomes that they would have. So, it is not likely for me to say that I support it 100 per cent, but I would say there are good moves in it and we can strengthen them when we move to the Committee of the whole House to ensure that Kenyans lead good lives. As we move from the Covid-19 season to non Covid-19 season, the country will be cushioned. Thank you my able Leader of the Minority Party. You can take it up from there."
}