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{
    "id": 1126332,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1126332/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 188,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "results will be streaming. In the last elections we had a challenge where there were so many problems when it came to the issue of connectivity. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have one big problem which I will be very happy if it can be dealt with and it has to do with the issue of debt. Today I read in the newspapers - it worries me - that Safaricom is now trading in the line as Kenya Airways (KQ). Over the last few months, they have accumulated debt which is about 5 times the debt that they had. A few years ago, the debt that Safaricom owed was only Kshs.14.7 billion. Today, we are talking about Kshs.76.9 billion. That is a lot of money. That debt has come as a result of their investment in Ethiopia but we have to be very careful because if Safaricom is now trading in the same line as KQ, Kenya Power and KenGen, we have to worry about the monopoly. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is a country where today even Posta services go down for a day, the whole country collapses. The economy collapses. Therefore, we have to be very careful. I think the Committee on ICT needs to be able to follow it closely to ensure that we are not put in a situation where we depend so much on one company, such that because of its debt, and because of uncertain times during this pandemic, we do not know what is going to happen tomorrow. With this Covid Pandemic the economy could be crushed. When we travelled to the US a few months ago, the supply chain had already been interrupted such that if you went to buy a shirt in a store, you could not be able to find it. We have to be extremely careful. I hope the Committee in the ICT will be able to monitor closely. Safaricom is one of the companies that Kenyans have invested heavily in. Kenyans believe in that company. For now, it is the biggest bank in this country. Some of us believe that we should be able to separate the two. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Mpesa should become a complete bank and Safaricom a telco so that in the event that telco services collapse at least our economy will still continue. Sometimes you want to transact and you are told we are doing service maintenance on the Safaricom line. It worries you. That will be something that I will encourage the Committee to take up suo moto. A statement does not have to be raised before this House. You can be able to follow up because it will be able to help us. Finally, on this issue of media houses and in terms of what is owed to musicians. I heard my colleague Sen. Sakaja making very passionate submissions. I will be very careful because when you now venture into a business arrangement with most of the radio and television stations, they do not necessarily make a lot of money. There are other agreements which are made between the media houses and the musicians so that they can be promoted. We need to be very careful not to use the power of licensing to deny Kenyans an opportunity to earn a living. You cannot come up and say that before a license is renewed, you have to check whether they have paid musicians. We know very well that the Music Copyright Society of Kenya was a cartel organization. Nobody was benefitting from it. We have to be very careful and ensure that we liberalize these service completely. This is so that other people who come up with music can decide to form their own cooperative or sign their own agreements with any Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO) to develop Skiza tunes."
}