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{
    "id": 1062814,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1062814/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 464,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Alego-Usonga, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Samuel Atandi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13290,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Onunga Atandi",
        "slug": "samuel-onunga-atandi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. The COVID-19 situation has reached very unprecedented levels. Therefore, as a House we cannot be left behind when other Kenyans are taking measures aimed at reducing the numbers. Therefore, as a House, we are duty-bound to take measures such as what we are going to do today of adjourning the sittings. It needs to be noted that whatever this House does reflects or is interpreted positively by Kenyans. If we take a decision of adjourning today, Kenyans are also going to be very strict in taking up the measures that have been put in place by the President, aimed at reducing the levels of COVID-19. Therefore, I support the adjournment Motion because it will give positive signals to the other Kenyans. Secondly, in the past, the Executive brought measures in response to managing the COVID-19 situation in the country and some of them were very expensive and hurt many Kenyans today. There is a restaurant where I go and before I go there, I normally call the waiters to place orders. Since the lockdown happened, a number of the waiters have been contacting me asking me to support them because they are unable to feed their families. This is something that this House needs to look at because the closure of restaurants and hotels affects ordinary Kenyans. I urge the Head of State, especially on measures to do with closure of restaurants, to make some revisions in a week or two so that hotels can operate even with some minimum strict measures. Even as we restrict movements and lockdowns, we need to care how our people survive. In the past when COVID-19 tax measures were introduced in this House, most of us complained that some of them were not going to give Kenyans positive results. One of the measures that we passed here was to cut down Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Corporate Tax. Some of us argued that it would not fare well because corporates do not know how to give benefits to ordinary people. We said that the measures in the end were going to hurt the economy because it was going to affect the collection of revenue which would have been ploughed back to the economy. But nonetheless, we went ahead and passed the laws and today, we know their impact on revenue. Today, some of the measures that have been put in place in response to COVID-19 such as completely locking down some businesses are going to translate negatively towards our revenue. This House needs to make a decision and act on the measures. In the end, we are going to insist that the Government fulfils certain promises like giving us some money for the National Government Constituencies Development Fund. When the Government does not collect revenue, we are going to have a problem. Therefore, I urge the people giving the President advice, because I know the President may not be in tandem with the reality on the ground but his advisors should be people who know what is happening on the ground, that if the measures that were put in place for the lockdown in Nairobi and four other counties continue, we are going to suffer because we are not going to raise enough revenue to fund the economy. The people are going to suffer more."
}