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{
    "id": 1097478,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1097478/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 312,
    "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": "i. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner; ii. The Communications Authority of Kenya; iii. The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya; iv. Digital lenders Association of Kenya; v. The PAC Limited; vi. Safaricom PLC; vii. PriceWaterHouse Coopers Limited; viii. The Lawyers Hub; ix. ECM Consulting Group; x. Angela and Company; xi. Alternative Sacco Limited; and xii. Central Bank of Kenya; Most of the stakeholders were in support of regulation generally. They said they do not mind being regulated. Even the digital lenders themselves said they do not mind being regulated. The area of contention was that there was a feeling among a majority of stakeholders that the prudential requirements for regulation among digital lenders was unnecessary. What they said was in regard to Clause 3 of the Bill. If you look at the powers given to Central Bank within the Bill, it has powers to license digital credit providers, determine the capital adequacy requirements, and determine minimum liquidity requirements for digital credit providers, approved digital channels and business models through which digital credit businesses are provided, among other things. The stakeholders were of the view that since digital lenders are not deposit taking, they do not take money from anybody. At no point does a digital lender owe anybody. The public owe the digital lenders at any given point. They were wondering why they would be given capital adequacy requirements or why there would be minimum liquidity requirements for digital lenders as is the case for deposit-taking financial institutions such as banks. Therefore, you must have liquidity requirements so that the bank does not collapse with the money of their clients. The Committee took note of some of these concerns by the stakeholders and when we move to Committee of the Whole House, we will be making suggestions as to how we can strike a balance between regulation and keeping innovation up. But the Committee together with the data protection agencies were very concerned about measures to be taken to protect data of the clients. I am very concerned about measures taken to protect the Kenyans’ data and avoid unnecessary listing of Kenyans with the Credit Reference Bureau for very small loans or for short periods of time. Allow me to express my special thanks to the Members of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning and the staff of the Committee for their significant role towards the scrutiny of the Bill and the production of this Report. We are also grateful to the offices of the Speaker and the Clerk for providing us with logistical support. We thank our stakeholders, some of whom always appear before the Committee to give their views on various legislations. We look forward to engaging further during the Committee of the whole House on this Bill. With those very many remarks, I beg to move and request Hon. Waihenya Ndirangu, Member of the royal suburbs, who is also my Vice-Chair, to second."
}