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"id": 1003238,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
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"id": 1835,
"legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
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"content": "Supplementary Budget, especially, after we passed whatever we passed in the Finance Bill. If we say we are losing this amount of revenue, which we had already appropriated as we will do in the Appropriations Bill immediately we finish with the Finance Bill, then we must find a way of raising that money. However, that does not mean we should abdicate our responsibilities as the peoples’ representatives to the National Treasury. The people elect us to come and represent them here. We must thank the Committee. If you are going to tax cooking gas, remember that we attracted everybody, including those who were using charcoal jikos and firewood, to start using cooking gas. We even went out to persuade people through the Inua Mama Initiative, the National Government Action Fund (NGAF) and other groups. Cooking gas is what our honorable ladies use back in our constituencies. We have given them Meko gases and then we come here to tax them for using cooking gas! We will be killing those people. We would be telling them to go back to the harmful jikos, paraffin stoves and firewood that they were using and, furthermore, damaging our environment. Therefore, I want to support the Committee and agree with it that, indeed, we must not strangulate our people anymore with heavy taxation. Raising revenue for Government does not mean overtaxing people. We just need to expand our tax brackets, raise more money, and be more innovative. Moving on, there is the question of zero-rating. The Leader of the Minority Party has spoken about it. I want to support the Committee’s recommendation. If we were able to zero-rate VAT on bread and milk, which we can do without, then we should be able to zero-rate unga . If you are not zero-rating unga and that is what is easily available to people, and that is what everybody…Hon. T.J. Kajwang’ will tell you more about the politics of unga in this country. In the last elections, our own Jubilee Party did the politics of unga just like NASA. We set the price of unga low by subsidizing the price at Kshs90 because of campaigns. Today, we are confronted with a huge humanitarian crisis. Our economy is terrible. Our people have no money. They are confronted by a health pandemic. If we cannot subsidize the price of unga for them today and we were able to do so during campaigns, then…Therefore, we must zero-rate unga for the ordinary people. Our people are crying. A few months ago, in the State of Minnesota, George Floyd, had that heavy knee of a policeman on his neck strangulating him. He was crying out saying: “I cannot breathe”. Had the other three officers who were standing next to the policeman who was strangulating George Floyd even tapped the policeman and told him: “The gentleman cannot breathe”, America would not be confronted with what they are confronted with today. We are in that situation in this country today. Our people are crying out to us. They are saying: “Unga! We have no food. We have no housing. Allow us to save without taxing us to be able to get housing”. Our people are telling us: “We cannot breathe.” Are we listening to the people of Kenya saying: \"We cannot breathe?\" On the other hand, are we cheering on as the heavy knee of Government strangulates our people? Today, as the peoples’ representatives, we must rise to the occasion and ask the heavy knee of Government to be removed to allow the people of Kenya to breathe. Allow the Kenyan economy to breathe. Allow our country to get back to its feet in terms of economic recovery. We shall not do that by overtaxing the people in the midst of a pandemic Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Moving on to our young people and the digital services tax - and I have heard varied opinions present in this House but - I want to stand with very many young, well-educated, innovative Kenyans working as Information Technology (IT) techies in this country. Innovative young minds that we promised to go to school and they secure jobs. We have not offered them The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}