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{
    "id": 1043633,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1043633/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 265,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 49,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
        "slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, when you want to bring something down, you do not need a lot of research. But when you want to construct, you must do some work. The Mover and the Seconder of this Bill gave us some figures earlier on in the morning. They stated that, as a country, we lost to a tune of Kshs172 billion for the time we gave those rebates. Unfortunately, while we did this in good faith in April, very little of that money got to the ordinary people in Ndaragwa. We must appreciate the Government for the quick response it had in giving those rebates. That money was consumed by the business people because they never passed it down to the ordinary Kenyans. It is only fair that we allow the Government to get back that revenue and use it to mitigate the difficulties that Kenyans are going through because of COVID-19. This is a global pandemic and we can see whatever is happening in the world. Just as my colleagues have said, the virus might not go away and we must prepare Kenyans for this. It is like telling Kenyans many years ago that HIV/AIDS would go away. Our behavior is the only thing that will help us deal with it. We must embrace social distancing, wearing of masks, avoid handshakes and follow other protocols that are given by the Government. As we allow the Government to revert back to the old taxes, first, it is important for Kenyans to understand that we are not putting in place new tax measures. Secondly, we want that money to be collected so as to help in mitigating difficulties that Kenyans are going through. As Members of Parliament, we will be faced with many bursary requests in January. If we do not allow the Government to collect the revenue, we will be out there blaming it for not being able to disburse money to help ordinary people in mitigating the difficulties in the education sector by issuing them with bursaries. In April, we mentioned that this was not the best way to deal with things. But the Government had to respond in a manner to a situation that was new to all of us. I remember the former Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah spoke on this very eloquently, but he still presided over the problem that he was telling us about. Unfortunately, the economic difficulties that are facing the country may have ousted his Committee from office. As I conclude, I want to state that it is not useful, as a peoples’ representative, to take a populist pedestal. You do not have to sound a populist. You must come with solutions. Several Members have floated some ideas, but they have the opportunity given to them by Kenyans to come with proposals. They can reduce their ideas into proposals in form of Bills and let us debate them. It is not right to just shoot down everything on the Floor without a counter-proposal. It only means that your competence is in question. You have the opportunity to introduce new things on the Floor to help the country move forward. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I support."
}