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{
    "id": 1373570,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1373570/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 77,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "is proposing has cured this matter in Clause 4 by providing this: ‘‘Apart from the salaried persons in Clause 4(a), the gross income of a person in the informal sector and under Clause 4(b) is also subjected to this Levy’. Hon. Speaker, additionally, the Bill was silent also on the mode of collection of whoever will be the collector of this Levy. In this case, it is Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). The Committee sought to cure this. During Third Reading, the Committee will be introducing an amendment that will allow the use of the provision of the Tax Procedures Act of 2015 to also apply for this Levy. This is the same way that those employed pay ‘Pay As You Earn (PAYE)’ tax which is deducted by our employers and remitted by the ninth of every month to KRA. For the self-employed or those in the informal sector on a monthly or quarterly basis, they will do the instalment taxes. They have an option on whether you want to pay instalment, advanced or annual tax. It will be an obligation that every Kenyan who is earning an income contributes to this Fund. Through the Tax Procedures Act of 2015, they will be required to make their tax returns to KRA and show how they will pay their Housing Levy. For good manners, let me take this opportunity to thank the courts. They have actually made it possible for the Government to collect more money. Initially, the Government was only going to collect from the salaried people. We shall now collect more money. The Fund was envisaged to collect about Ksh63 billion, but we will now collect more money and roll out more projects in all our 47 Counties and in all our 290 Constituencies. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage those Members of Parliament who have not complied with the letter that was sent by the Principal Secretary (PS) of the State Department of Housing and Urban Development to propose sites for construction of this affordable housing in their constituencies. I am a beneficiary of this project in Kikuyu. In a project where we are doing about 755 or 757 houses between Kikuyu and Kabete Constituencies, we are projecting to employ close to 2,000 people on site directly and many others indirectly. Just the other day when we passed by a site in Kakamega town with you, you will recall those young men and women told us to come and tell the people in Nairobi who are talking ill of these housing projects to know that is where they are earning their daily bread. That is how they educate their children. Today, steel, cement and timber traders in these housing projects across the country are not able to satisfy the demand. I have a friend who trades in timber from Congo. He is telling me that they are now struggling to get transport to bring timber from as far as Congo and Tanzania because of the huge demand of timber, marine boards and steel in this country. In 2022, His Excellency the President commissioned a steel factory in Mariakani in the Coastal Region. The factory is owned by Devki Steel Mills."
}