Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1082682,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1082682/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 95,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Navakholo, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2543,
        "legal_name": "Emmanuel Wangwe",
        "slug": "emmanuel-wangwe"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Report of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning. Revenue is the backbone of any economy in terms of planning. If you have to plan, you only plan for what you have. You cannot plan for what you do not have because your budget will definitely go out of place. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Kenya Revenue Authority is a very good organization, if well supported. I thank the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning for making an early intervention in terms of visiting the sites and the areas where there has always been peace. I am very happy that, at least, after now visiting the various areas where there has always been peace, the Committee on Finance and National Planning was able to implore on the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning to plan and budget for KRA. The issue of scanners as detailed in this Report is very key. Kenya is now moving towards the West in terms of development. We are making a lot of importation far and away. Indeed, it is bad that you can now examine the goods imported into this country manually. It is important to carry out the exercise in a scientific way, by way of scanners. Those scanners are not just an issue of revenue, but I look at them as a way of security. What is it that we are importing into the country? Is it an item? Is it an explosive? What is it particularly that we are trying to declare? The Public Finance Management (PFM) Act tells us that we cannot levy tax on an illegal item. Should it be that it is an explosive that has been imported into the country illegally; in itself, it is illegal. It is important that we try to live within the laws that we make and we live within the Constitution. Therefore, the decision by the Committee to push KRA to buy scanners so that we levy tax on the actual items that are imported is not just meant to enhance revenue collection, but it is also in conformity with the Public Finance Management Act. I have been able to make reference in terms of revenue collection in this country. However, the issues that the Committee has outlined in this Report, if we can enforce them, can increase our revenue. The projected revenue collection of Kshs2 trillion in the 2021/2022 Financial Year is without scanners. What if we get scanners? We are likely to grow our revenue. Therefore, I support the Committee on Finance and National Planning so that we can keep KRA afloat. I thank you. I support."
}