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{
    "id": 1079807,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1079807/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 265,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13322,
        "legal_name": "John Kiarie Waweru",
        "slug": "john-kiarie-waweru"
    },
    "content": "in order to occasion a sin tax on anything that is tobacco related because one can choose not to smoke, but cannot want not to have a meal. When canvassing issues in this House, we have to be careful not to be the proverbial Marie Antoinette from France: the lady who infamously asked the people of France to consume cake because there was no bread. When the people rose up against the establishment because of the price of bread and the lack of it in the market, she asked why they would be revolting about bread and why they would not have cake? We cannot be telling Kenyan hustlers to have cake because we have increased the price of bread. The basic issue we should do is to take care of the common mwananchi so that they can afford food. We shall, therefore, be seeking to make an amendment to address this matter on bread. It is important we look at the issue of money transfer. We know that 72 per cent of Kenyans have a mobile money account. Mobile money transfer is the bank for the unbanked in this country. We should not have any taxes imposed on transactions that are less than Ksh5,000. The situation is dire. We know how our economy is like on the ground. Let us be conscious about the people who are transacting business on this mobile money platform. I, however, know that the Budget is about balance. As we are taking away from mobile money, it shall be in order to re-look at the money transfers that are done in banks. You will not find a bank if you go to where the lowest in our society live. You will not have the brick and mortar of a stone bank. This means that the bank transfers that are done in the banking halls are done by the wealthy and affluent. In seeking a balance, by giving remedy to mobile money transfer, we essentially increase what it is we are charging for bank transfers and other charges that are done by banks. I have a raft of amendments that I shall be proposing to the Finance Bill. I pray that they shall be taken into consideration because if they are not, some of us will have no option but to reject it. I look forward to proposing my amendments when the time is due. Thank you very much."
}