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"id": 1082647,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1082647/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Homa Bay, CWR, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Gladys Wanga",
"speaker": {
"id": 590,
"legal_name": "Gladys Atieno Nyasuna",
"slug": "gladys-atieno-nyasuna"
},
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I rise to second this Report of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning on Optimisation of Revenue Collection Measures, by the Kenya Revenue Authority. I thank the Hon. Vice Chairman of my Committee for ably moving this Report. As he highlighted, the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning took a tour of various revenue collection points to access how effective the revenue optimisation measures that had been funded by the Committee have been working. Just last week, this House passed the Finance Bill. We also passed our Budget. We spoke a lot about how we were going to get revenue, who do you tax so that we get the revenue top fund our budget. Some of the things we were looking at during this tour were how to optimise with the taxation measures that we already have and the taxation areas that we already have. How can we optimise revenue collection? So, as the Vice Chair highlighted, we visited Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), we visited Namanga, Malaba and Busia OSBPs and the Port of Mombasa to look at whether the revenue enhancement measures that had been put by KRA were working. What I can report is that if we focus on facilitating KRA properly, we can raise much more revenue even from the same tax sources than we are raising today. When for example we went to the JKIA, the scanner at the cargo area of JKIA was not working; it had broken down, meaning for every piece of cargo that comes, the KRA people at JKIA have to decide which packages to open to find out whether they were carrying what has been declared. That alone results in a lot of loss in revenue. We went to Busia and Malaba OSBPs; both had no scanners on the Kenyan side. Uganda which raises only Kshs600 billion in terms of revenue annually had scanners. Kshs600 billion is what our customs department at KRA raises and yet that is what the entire Uganda Revenue Authority raises. They have scanners there but none on the Kenyan side. So what the Kenyan side does; a truck is scanned on the Ugandan side and the Kenyan side borrows pictures from the Ugandan side to confirm if what is being carried is what was declared. So, these are some of the issues that we are raising in our report. However, there is no reason why a much more superior economy like the Kenyan one should borrow images from Uganda. This is how serious the issue of scanning is. If a lorry comes and they have Ethanol at the bottom, Ethanol is excised at around Kshs252 per litre; on top of the Ethanol somebody puts water melon or another product. So, when he is passing, if you do not have a scanner you will have to remove all the water melons and return them to discover if there is Ethanol at the bottom. However, if you have a scanner, it will show you that there is Ethanol at the bottom and water melon at the top and that truck will immediately be put aside and the person will be caught. If the truck driver knows there was a scanner, they are less likely to carry illicit goods, if they know there is no scanner. So, some of the recommendations that we are making are that, in this financial year… This Report was done in the last financial year and the Committee on Finance made a lot of effort in trying to ensure that KRA gets funded for purchase of scanners. We thank the National Treasury because they actually gave the money for purchase of scanners, both for Malaba and Busia so that we can have scanners on our side, the KRA has tried. Right now, if you are at the Port of Mombasa, if a truck is scanned there, the images are immediately reflected in Nairobi and you cannot collude with anybody. The images in that truck are reflected in Nairobi and all over. We are saying that we should look at staffing at KRA because for every one staff we hire there, every Kshs100 or Kshs100,000 you spend, we can raise Kshs100 million in terms of just sending a person to go and look for… If we hire 1,000 youths, we will have given them jobs and 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."
}