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{
    "id": 1010858,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1010858/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 355,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 49,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
        "slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Speaker, I move that the Public Fundraising Appeals Bill (National Assembly No.66 of 2019) be read a Second Time. It is important to let the House know that as a Committee, we had a total of 20 sittings. Seventeen of the sittings were for gathering public views through what we call public participation while three sittings were in-house meetings to consider the memoranda that came from the stakeholders. We had public hearings in Kakamega, Bungoma, Vihiga, Kisumu, Siaya, Kericho, Laikipia, Nyandarua, Nakuru, Garissa, Embu, Kitui, Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Lamu and Nairobi. I would like to thank members of the public who came and participated in a very useful manner. We had interesting views from members of the public. The views were captured in the Report we tabled in this House. I am sure they are views that can be read by Members, if they were to go through the Report. The principal object of this Bill is to regulate public collections we have been referring to as Harambee. The other purpose is to align the Public Collections Act of 1960 with the current Constitution. We gave ourselves the current Constitution back in 2010, but this is one of the pieces of legislations that had not been aligned. I can report to the House that I have quite a number of such Acts that have not been aligned to the 2010 Constitution. We will continue doing so as part of our mandate. This is one piece of legislation that we seek to align to the Constitution. The Bill proposes to repeal that Public Collections Act of 1960 and in its place put a better legal framework to address pertinent issues that are bedevilling the public collections activities in the country today. One of the things that we noticed in the Act of 1960 is that it still refers to the Provincial Administration and not the devolved structures as we have them in our Constitution. It still talks of divisions, districts and provinces. Public fundraising is done in the spirit of Harambee or a movement that was coined by our founding fathers. It has helped in a big way to deal with development issues in our country. There is need to ensure that we streamline the legal framework on how we conduct fundraising activities. By doing so we will protect that useful activity from the abuses that we have continued to see in some quarters. This will ensure that the country continues to benefit from the same movement or from the same spirit, but this time round aligned to the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. Therefore, this Bill seeks to ensure that public fundraisings are undertaken in a properly regulated environment by, among others, providing a structured process for conducting fundraising appeals. It will also make contributions in relation to the appeal be undertaken properly and provide a regulatory framework to ensure transparency and accountability so that the monies raised are used for purposes for which fundraising was requested. It came to the notice of the Committee that we have many fundraising appeals that continued being undertaken in this country. However, in quite a number of occasions, the funds raised are not used for the intended purpose. The Bill seeks to address such issues. It seeks to put to notice those who may be misleading the public. It seeks to protect the public from fraudulent, misleading and even coercive fundraising appeals. It requires that fundraising are conducted with some form of licences. It provides a platform for provision of physical incentives such as a means of engaging voluntary contributions in relation to Harambees. For example, the Bill seeks to give tax incentives to those 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."
}