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{
    "id": 1112277,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1112277/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 213,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tiaty, KANU",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kassait Kamket",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13493,
        "legal_name": "William Kamket Kassait",
        "slug": "william-kamket-kassait"
    },
    "content": "Act (Cap. 470), approves the Income Tax Exemption on the Send-off Package payable to employees of the Kenya Airways PLC, 2021, published as Legal Notice No. 115 of 2021. As I started saying, this is a very positive application of the law and power by the Cabinet Secretary in terms of assisting employees of Kenya Airways (KQ) who were retrenched because of financial challenges that the airline has experienced because of, among other reasons, the closure of international airspace due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main purpose of this exemption, therefore, as indicated in respect of Legal Notice 115 of 2021 is to exempt income tax on the send- off package to 187 KQ employees, who left the company between January and March 2021. The send-off package which is sought to be exempted from income tax amounts to three months’ salary paid in lieu of notice, severance pay and payment for accumulated leave days due to those employees. The KQ will therefore reduce its cost of operations, which will have a positive impact on the insolvency status of the airline. As a Committee, we looked at this statutory instrument and determined that it met all the statutory timelines and other requirements. Pursuant to Standing Order 210(4) and having examined Legal Notice 115 of 2021 in line with the Constitution, the Interpretation and General Provisions Act and the Income Tax Act, we therefore recommend that this House approves this Legal Notice. The employees were represented in the collective bargain agreement and the representatives requested for improvement of the send-off package. The staff will therefore be exempted from paying tax to allow them to go into retirement with a good package. In very simple terms, this is a very positive application of the law to help Kenyans who were retrenched. The law allows the Cabinet Secretary to exempt persons from paying income tax. We believe that with the approval of this Assembly, these Kenyans will be able to live comfortably. With those few remarks, I beg to move and ask my colleague Hon. Martha Wangari to second. Thank you, Hon. Speaker."
}