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{
    "id": 1031923,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1031923/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 215,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "occasioned in many months combined. It is for us to be more careful. There is what the Government can do, but there is what we must take as personal responsibility. Madam Deputy Speaker, as I chaired the ad hoc Committee on COVID-19 Situation in Kenya, we had been optimistic. Part of what we were told by the experts was that the virus was attenuating and that the strain that was affecting us earlier in the year was a mild strain than what was in Europe and parts of the Americas. That does not look like the case now. Since the term of the ad hoc Committee on COVID-19 Situation in Kenya ended, I wish the Committee on Health would invite KEMRI to appear before the Committee and give an update. The KEMRI had made a lot of ground breaking initiative culturing the virus and doing analysis. The KEMRI has the best analysists and medical researchers on the African Continent so they need to give us an update on what they are seeing and why there is a spike in deaths. I do not think that the spike has been occasioned by the night curfew which has little to do. We assume that the virus wakes up at night. We can be flouting the COVID-19 guidelines throughout the day and then think that the virus shows up at night after curfew. If you move around the country during the day, you will witness the kind of meetings that politicians are holding and people are being irresponsible at observing the COVID-19 restrictions. Kenyans should know that the virus does not wake up at night. The virus is with us during the day everywhere. We need to take the COVID-19 guidelines seriously such as washing hands frequently and maintain social distance. I would like to start on the part of the speech that touches on the economy. Before the end of their term, the ad hoc Committee on COVID-19 Situation in Kenya, had done nine reports which were tabled in the House. The pillar on the economy leaves much to be done. We are grateful that by the time the President was speaking, the tax measures that had been introduced such as the reduction of corporate tax by five per cent, the PAYE by four per cent and VAT from 16 per cent to 14 per cent would make the Government forgo Kshs176 billion a year. We also note that there have been savings, for instance, the education budget which runs to almost Kshs200 billion not being expended apart from salaries for the teachers. What we expected for the small and medium-sized enterprises was the credit guarantee scheme of at least Kshs200 billion so that the medium-sized enterprises, restaurant and other sectors in the hospitality industry that had to lay off people would be equipped to keep those people working and be able to pay them. By the time we brought those proposals months ago, many countries had come up with serious stimulus programmes running into trillions so we could do that. We have heard the CS in the National Treasury and the CEO of the Equity Bank speak about it, but real businesses are still hurting. We acknowledge the good will of the President and his intention, but at this point, it should not just be a plan. There needs to be implementation of those proposals, especially on credit guarantee scheme because Kshs5 billion is a bit low. We are staring at a crisis soon with the issue of the health care workers strike. Madam Deputy Speaker, I can see the warning light is on. How many more minutes do I have left?"
}