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{
    "id": 120370,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/120370/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 303,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to support the Bill. I had a discussion with my friend, Eng. Maina, an argument actually, of the merits of this particular Bill, because I am one of the people who really believe in a free market economy. But after a lengthy discussion I stand here to say that at least this Bill has merits that need to be supported. A perfectly competitive market has an infinite number of buyers and an infinite number of sellers. Let me make it a bit realistic by saying that it has many buyers and many sellers. But in the case of our country, we have a market distortion, or we have a distortion in the economy. For that matter we need to correct it. If you look at the case of banks, you will realize that that they make huge profits and charge very high interest rates, but at the same time they give very low interest rates on deposits. Despite the numerous number of banks that we have in this country they cannot correct themselves. So, if we assume that the market will correct itself, our people will continue to suffer. Someone said that we have never had food riots in this country, but I think we have had something similar to food riots. For the first time in the history of this country, a head of State has been heckled, at least in public, while attending a public function because of food. That happened last year. So, we should not wait for full scale food riots in this country; we should not wait for the citizens of this country to start protesting that prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed for us to act. Sometimes the inflationary pressure in this country cannot be explained, because it is unjustified. If you look at the current thinking of Government, it is trying to make cash transfers to people who are considered vulnerable; poor in the country but this would not be necessary if we controlled the prices of goods, and if the prices of essential commodities were affordable. For that reason I think it is high time that, as a country, we looked at the prices of essential commodities, and we know them. In fact, essential goods are basically goods"
}