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{
    "id": 1400462,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1400462/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 150,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Above that, it also provides a fair and equitable means of taxation, ensuring that property owners contribute to financing essential services proportionate to the value of their properties. Many strong institutions that have got the financial muscle are able to negotiate and collude with land officers in various counties to pay taxes less than what is due to them. Taxation must be fair. You must be taxed an amount that is commensurate to the value of what you are holding and the benefit that you get from a county government. If you are charging a boda boda operator or a mama mboga in a market Kshs20 or Kshs50 to operate, then within the same market somebody who has a wholesale store or a supermarket is being charged Kshs500 as a license for the entire financial year, then it brings to the fore the conversation about equity. Is it fair? Is it just? This provides the opportunity for us, as a country, to have this conversation and say that taxation by our various forms and arms of county government is fair and can be traced. We have challenges, those of us who come from counties that have multinationals operating within the area. Those of us that come from the tea growing areas, the land rates that they pay are valuations of as late as 1994 when I was a six-year old boy. I have come to the Senate right now and they are still paying that amount because of the absence of such a law. That is why this is very personal to some of us and we need to pass this legislation very quickly, so that there is a standardized format, determined and passed nationally here at the national Government, so that counties are left to implement and collect the resources. This should not be left to negotiations. In the tea subsector, when we go to meetings with them, they say that they have agreed with a certain county government, but did not agree with another. We do not want these backend agreements. We want agreements that can be verified, scrutinized and can easily be traced back. Parts 7 to 20 of the Bill - as I move towards a conclusion - contain the provision of the duty to levy rates by county government and the principles they need to adhere to in accordance to the Public Finance Management Act (PFM). It defines who the owner is and the mandate and requirements for ensuring that the rates are paid. It even provides for forms of rating, the notice of rating, ratings track, the notice of rate payments and remissions, discounts, waivers and enforcement of payment of rates. This is the engine of this legislation. It is providing for all that I have described earlier. Clauses 21 to 25 of the Bill provide for the appointment and powers of valuers, which includes the criteria for one to be appointed as a valuer and give responsibilities to these valuers, so that the Chief Government Valuer concerning standardization, harmonization, preparation and implementation of the valuation of roles across various counties. I have spent significant time explaining and giving context to why we need to have this standardized across all the counties. It should not be different from Kisumu, Kericho, Mombasa, and all these other places. The Chief Government Valuer sets in consultation with county governments, so that the valuation role is standardized. In my county, Sen. Mumma, you see, admire and take pictures of all the land as you drive towards Kericho Town. The valuation role that is being used was last updated in 1994. This is why we are providing for the standardization of the exercise, so that we The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}