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{
    "id": 1019526,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1019526/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 240,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Navakholo, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2543,
        "legal_name": "Emmanuel Wangwe",
        "slug": "emmanuel-wangwe"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this chance. From the outset, I wish to support the Public Finance Management (Amendment) Bill. In the footsteps of the Leader of the Minority Party, allow me to say that we cannot have a Government that has no policies and rules that govern the collection of revenue. Seven years down the line since we promulgated our Constitution, it is not fair that we have not really drafted the right rules in terms of a financial administration and collection of revenue at the county governments. This Bill seeks to put in place a seamless collection system whereby county governments will now recognise that they are part and parcel of the national Government. You find a county government imposing some taxes or levies not knowing that the national Government has similar taxes in terms of the neighbouring countries or the regional blocs. Kenya exists within the East African Community (EAC). It is also cooperating in terms of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and other regional trading blocs. Therefore, whenever a county is putting some rules in terms of taxation, we must look at it in terms of how it is impacting the relationship that Kenya has. Therefore, if the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the National Treasury is going to make these rules now, it means we shall have universal rules that apply which are in tandem with what Kenya has. Therefore, it is going to support the national Government in terms of the image and relationship on how it relates to other countries. What is happening in various counties in terms of tax leakage is a lot. There are some taxes which are imposed like chicken taxes and egg taxes, but at the end of the day, those taxes do not really reach the national coffers. This means that the taxes are spent before getting to the required source. Therefore, if we are going to have a universal system created at the national level by the National Treasury, we are not going to have haphazard taxes whereby a governor just wakes up in the morning and since he is facing resistance from a certain quarter, decides to play politics on the ground. We are going to cure that using this Bill. What is also very good is that the money which is going to be collected will go to the required destination and once it reaches the required destination, what follows is that we will have 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."
}