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{
    "id": 1254497,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1254497/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 250,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mombasa County, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Zamzam Mohamed",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Speaker, I rise to oppose this Bill. Kenyans have braved harsh economic times in the last couple of years. Despite promises and reversed situation by the current regime, things seem to be getting worse day-by-day. The continued rise of fuel prices and free fall of the Kenya Shilling have affected the prices of basic commodities in this country thus, driving the inflation rate above 90 per cent in recent months. Hon. Speaker, the Bill proposes to increase VAT on petroleum products from 8 per cent to 16 per cent. I am asking myself: How are we going to improve production if we are going to add this amount of tax to that of the previous years? Actually, we are going to run down the curve. I believe that we are no longer going to collect more taxes. As we aim to collect more taxes with this kind of increase, production is going to fall and Kenyans are going to suffer even more. The introduction of Ksh5 Excise Duty per one kilogramme of sugar will also affect our people given that we are currently buying sugar at Ksh250 per kilogramme. You can imagine how adding Ksh5 more on a kilogramme of sugar is going to affect our people. This is not a Bill for Kenya Kwanza; it is not a Bill for Azimio, but rather a Bill for the people of this country. Someone asked what we can do to improve our economy. The Government can start by saving the over Ksh700 billion looted annually by sealing all loopholes. The Government should go after looters to recover stolen public resources instead of discontinuing corruption cases and appointing thieves as state offices. Let it cut down the size of the Government. A broke Government should not be recruiting 51 Principal Secretaries and an equal number of illegal Cabinet Administrative Secretaries. Eliminate unnecessary offices, including the offices of the spouses of our Executive members. We do not need those offices…."
}