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{
    "id": 1130040,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1130040/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 67,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta",
    "speaker_title": "His Excellency the President",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 168,
        "legal_name": "Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta",
        "slug": "uhuru-kenyatta"
    },
    "content": "This will facilitate easy transactions for SMEs and help the economy respond to the COVID-19 shocks. The twelfth intervention was in the digital financial services sub-sector. In recognition of the importance of the digital financial services, especially to small-scale traders and households at large, I directed the National Treasury to engage all digital payment providers with an aim of deepening and expanding the use of digital payment channels. The thirteenth intervention was a two-pronged one in the area of vaccination against Covd- 19. As part of our national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we rolled out the National Vaccine Deployment Plan aimed at vaccinating 10 million adults by June 2022 and approximately 16 million by June 2023. With regard to COVID-19 vaccine production, we have set out to implement the lesson of self-reliance, which was one of the key learning points of the pandemic. As the first step towards this goal, we established the Kenya Biovax Limited, a venture that would locally produce anti- COVID-19 vaccines. I, therefore, directed the Ministry of Health to operationalise the company to ‘form and fill’ and eventually manufacture our locally-produced vaccine by Easter of 2022. Hon. Members, ladies and gentlemen, at this point I would also like to take special note of the resilience of our revenue collection system under the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). For the first time in 8 years, KRA has exceeded its revenue collection target despite the COVID-19 stress on the economy. The KRA projected a Ksh1.52 trillion collection in tax during 2020 which means that they collected Ksh1.67 trillion, which was in excess of their projected intention. On this note, I must also report on the sterling performance of KRA, not only under the COVID-19 duress, but in the last 8 years of my Administration. In the last 8 years, KRA has collected Ksh.10.8 trillion cumulatively in revenue. This means that in just 8 years, KRA has collected the equivalent of Kenya’s total GDP. It also means that on average, KRA collected Ksh.1.3 trillion every year. Hon. Members, to accelerate the turnaround of our micro, small, and medium enterprises, under the Ease of Doing Business Government Agenda, my administration has implemented remarkable reforms over the years. These measures have not only improved the country’s business climate but they have also mitigated the challenges and bottlenecks impacting businesses."
}