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{
    "id": 1055743,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1055743/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 301,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyaribari Chache, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Richard Tong’i",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2611,
        "legal_name": "Richard Nyagaka Tongi",
        "slug": "richard-nyagaka-tongi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for your kind indulgence and for allowing me to speak when my card has malfunctioned. We appreciate that kind of gesture. It is a sign leadership on your part as you have always been. I stand to support this Bill with amendments. I believe there are good things in it. Certainly, there are things that are going to hurt the communication industry. As a House, we have a duty of ensuring that we protect innovations. We cannot be the same people who are supporting the private sector to do their businesses and when they succeed, we are the first people to punish them for success. I used to sit in the Departmental Committee on Communication, Information and Innovation and this came up. The Bill is to manage some of the considered 'big' companies. I think that was not in the interest of the country at that point in time and I still think it is not in the interest of the country because supporting innovation is the business of the Government. When innovators have succeeded, we should be the last people to be 'punishing' them, for lack of a better way to put it, for having succeeded. For example, Safaricom has grown in leaps and bounds. I remember when Hon. Kimunya, then the Finance Minister, a man that I admire very much, introduced the IPO of Safaricom, most of us who were doubting Thomases, who did not have the capacity to see the future, thought that it was not the best idea for him to float the shares in the stock market. But those who were courageous enough and who believed in his vision and bought those shares, today are smiling all the way to the bank. I remember the shares were selling at an average price of Kshs5 and even less and there are a number of Kenyans who bought them. This is a company owned by Kenyans and partly by the Government. Whatever money they are making, it is brought back to the economy and hence we are better off to that extent. Having said that, it is also fair to mention that there are some things which must be amended. For instance, on the Universal Services Fund, money which has been saved over the years, the last time I knew of if we had more than Kshs6 billion... That money has not been put into good use because of the protracted way of doing things. We also need to mention that this was meant to address the regions which did not have coverage, but as I speak, most parts of the country have network. We also need to keep on improving because the biggest room on earth is the room for improvement. In addition, we need to keep on improving even in areas where we think we have done well because population is growing and the demand for the service is growing at the same time. We must match the demand with the supply so that we can be efficient going forward. That USF was meant to address not just one region where there is poor network, but was even meant to address schools. There are public institutions which cannot afford to install their own ways of communication. The more of us get into the network, the better it is for the country. If you appreciate the kind of economies that we have developed out of the communication network throughout the service industry, it is massive. We have created employment courtesy of these innovative ideas. There are many youths working in the service industry of the telecommunication industry today. That will be hurt if we just amend this law without looking at the ripple effect on the Kenyans who are beneficiaries of the same. It is always good to look at the bigger picture and I believe that when we get to that 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."
}