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{
    "id": 1202507,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1202507/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 111,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Malava, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Malulu Injendi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Parliament. I think it is because of what I did for them. They had trust in me. I want to assure them that this time I will again serve them so diligently to levels that will satisfy them. I also want to congratulate William Samoei Ruto for being elected as our President and, most importantly, for proving that he is an honest and trustful person. I am speaking as a member of ANC, which joined hands with UDA and FORD-Kenya. He has lived to the promise of what he pledged he would grant us. He has not been deceitful. I want to thank Moses Wetang’ula and Musalia Mudavadi for choosing to work with William Ruto. The people of western Kenya are so happy that this time round, for the first time, they have benefitted from the person they supported. In the past, our leaders such as Moses Wetang’ula have suffered. I remember in the last Parliament he gave a lot of support to a particular friend, our neighbour, who actually demonised him. We recall what happened in the Senate. We remember what happened here in the National Assembly. Thank you, Mr. President, for being faithful and being honest and for avoiding politics of deceit. Turning to the President’s Speech, some people have been saying it was so brief. Our President seems to be a very brilliant man. Interestingly, his half-hour Speech captured aspirations of most Kenyans. Its length is what we are contributing on the Floor of the House. What touched me most is the issue of loans, particularly to small-scale traders, the so-called hustlers. I have a case from western Kenya. Most people in western Kenya have a phobia for loans. This stems from their history with loans from the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC). In the 1970s and 1980s, our people used to get loans from AFC but most of the loans did not help them. Instead, because of high interest rate, most of our people defaulted and they lost land which they had given as sureties. So it has been very difficult for the people to take loans. When they began warming up to the idea of loans, unfortunately issuing institutions were asking for very high interest rates. So the people developed some fear for loans. I am very happy the President actually talked about ensuring that hustlers get loans at lower interest rates. This will boost the economy. Most of us are where we are because of accessing affordable loans. Even as hustlers get this money, I would urge that we design the law in such a way that interest rates do not change along the way. Banks are very fond of changing interest rates along the way. That makes it difficult for hustlers to do business. The small-scale traders also pay taxes. Currently, there are so many taxes levied by the national and county governments. I would propose that as we develop this programme, we take care of the numerous taxes that affect small-scale traders. I want to thank the President for his commitment to hustlers and for taking action on the so-called Fuliza loans. I have also seen some action being taken by the Co-operative Bank of Kenya in lowering interest rates and appealing to people to take loans at affordable rates. The other thing that I took a lot of interest in is the proposal on the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). Most people who pay a lot of money are the hustlers. Most of these Members of Parliament and I earn over Kshs1 million. We pay Kshs1,700 every month to National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). However, the hustler is required to pay Kshs500 every month. When you look at the rate that the hustler pays and then you compare with what I pay, he pays a lot of money. Hon. Deputy Speaker, this is a step in the right direction. We should contribute to NHIF depending on how much we earn, so that the rich or well-off persons like us can contribute more, so as to carry the people who rely on us to help them in terms of their health."
}