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{
    "id": 1003329,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1003329/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 413,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dadaab, KANU",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Mohamed Duale",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1377,
        "legal_name": "Mohamed Dahir Duale",
        "slug": "mohamed-dahir-duale"
    },
    "content": " Thank you for the protection, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. As I was saying, our nation is one of the most heavily taxed nations in the world. Our revenue base is mainly tax. At times it is difficult to escape from the fact that we continue to put pressure on people who are already burdened with taxation because of limited revenue base. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I cannot agree more with the previous speakers, that we must address graft and corruption. We must also address spillage or loss of taxation. In Kenya, we have the second set of county governors, who found pending bills from the previous county regimes. Many governors have refused to pay those pending bills, putting many people out of business. A classic example is the Garissa County Governor who has persistently refused to pay merchants who supplied goods and services, whose bills have since been verified by the national audit team and other concerned arms of Government. This is all because of graft. As a country, we must look at our policies. We now have the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Mombasa to Suswa. As it transports imports from the Port of Mombasa, the wagons go back empty. I am sure that the idea was to get imports in and exports through the same way. Who is paying for those empty wagons going back to the Port of Mombasa? This is happening because we have not developed industries, horticulture and agricultural sectors in the hinterland so that our wagons could have gone back with products to export to other countries. This country is not short of supply of things to export, from fish, agricultural and livestock produce. We must also look at policies concerning industrialization. Without industrialization, we will continue to tax a few Kenyans, who are already burdened with taxation. We have to think about new policies in the agriculture sector, mining, commerce and industry. I can tell you for free – although I am not an expert in agriculture – growing sugar cane, for example, in the Tana Delta or along Tana River would be more productive than growing it in the lake region because in that area there is a lot of sunshine, water and good soil, therefore, you can produce more sugar cane. The same applies to cotton. I am not saying that we should stop it, but we should also encourage those areas to be calm. What happened to the 10,000 acres which were to be under farming in the Tana River Basin? We have the livestock sector. Where I come from, and the vast part of this nation, we keep livestock. Our policy on livestock has not been remarkable. I want to be on record that most of the livestock from northern Kenya is going to Somalia because the Somali Government – even though they have problems – has facilities for exporting livestock to the Arab world. What has prevented us from having the same in Kenya so that we can export our cattle, camels and goats to the Arab world in the same way? We are losing a lot of business because of that. The vast part of this country is the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL). In future it will be the economic driver of this nation including parts of Ukambani, Coast region, Upper Eastern and 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."
}