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{
    "id": 1201238,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1201238/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 318,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Tabitha Keroche",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "information using the right channel. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can also ensure that they increase the international market. As leaders, we should also ensure that we buy our local products when we go to the supermarkets. If you go to America, the President of the USA will not buy anything that is not produced from his own country. We need to change our country and ensure that the informal sector comes to the formal sector by giving them the necessary support, such that when we have 16.5 million people in the informal sector and 33 million people in the formal sector. If you currently look at how many people are employed in the formal and public sector, it is not more than 3 million. We are talking of creating employment for 33 million people within our five years’ tenure. Even the saving money that we are talking about--- Sen. M. Kajwang’ has left; he seemed not to understand about the saving. I also understood it when we were taken to the Kenya Kwanza Coalition Retreat. I could not understand that we are doing so badly that Tanzania and Uganda are better savers than us. We are living beyond our means. We use more money to collect the Kshs200, which the employer adds another Kshs200 to make it Kshs400. Therefore, we just need to increase more people to be able to pay the taxes by ensuring that the informal sector comes into the formal sector and get into the tax bracket. This will enable us to get the money. When you keep money into the account, it is just yours, but if you put it into NSSF and are required to use it probably after 30 years on your retirement, that is the money that the Government will be borrowing. This way we will save ourselves from borrowing from international borrowing, which makes us appear to be enslaved. We will ensure that we can have our own money and the Government can borrow from us. I do not think we need to go to Harvard Business School to understand that. It is very clear that we are the ones to save ourselves. The proposal by His Excellency the President to transform the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to the Kenya Revenue Service is highly welcomed. The reforms will ensure customer care and service leadership is enhanced. They will ensure that we build investors confidence and create friendly business environment for both local and international. The need to widen our tax bracket can only be achieved by having a friendly method of collecting tax that is free from harassment and unnecessary use of force. We do not want to repeat ourselves when we talk after others have spoken, but the other point on how to ensure businesses thrive and create more industries in our country, as the President had said, is to ensure that we have affordable credit and ensuring that the blacklisting and the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) are well taken care of or laws are changed to ensure that we do not have many businesses going to CRB. The minute the businesses go to CRB, they will not be able to access finance and the employees will lose their jobs. Therefore, we support His Excellency the President on that. I also insist that we support His Excellency the President on Agriculture. Nakuru being the biggest contributor in Agriculture, about 35 per cent, means that our people should receive more fertilizer. However, the main thing is, how do we add value so that we can ensure that we have more products for our businesses to ensure that we do not import a lot of the raw materials. As Kenyans we need to support “buy Kenya, build Kenya” to ensure that we can create more employment for our people."
}