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{
    "id": 1400467,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1400467/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 155,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The county governments also become very rough sometimes. Even before they pass their own Finance Act, they go to bar and shop owners within the trading centres and they tell them that the collection rates on various things has increased. For instance, what they were doing in our headquarters in Hola. They tell the traders and the business people that they have increased the rates even before the Finance Act came into effect. If you do not pay, they are accompanied by the Kanjo, and they put a padlock on your business premise. This practise shows the desperation and problems of raising OSR in my County of Tana River. The answer to these problems is to increase the base upon which we can raise OSR. This Rating Act that standardizes how we shall collect charges from properties across the entire 47 counties is going to be of great help to a county such Tana River. I support this Bill very much because we do not need to increase the taxes, charges or levies that is upon the businessman who is selling in his kiosk, bar or little supermarket. Tana River County will benefit from this Bill if we pass it into law, in that, the huge land mass is going to be rateable. Those huge investors who we welcome to our county will have a predictable rate at which they will be paying their levies every year when it is due for payment. We have huge irrigation schemes in Tana River County. Do they pay to the county government anything? No! We have huge programmes and private investors who are supposed to bring investment. We welcome them, but they are also supposed to contribute to the county government. Madam Temporary Speaker, they are not paying the county government because the legal framework does not exist. Today, when we pass this Rating Bill, we shall create a larger base, not just for Tana River, but the rest of the counties in this nation. We will now be able to collect the levies that are due in an organized manner and they will increase the base. We know that there is a very serious problem of leakage of what county governments collect. Additionally, even the little that they are collecting, like what the Majority Leader has said, there is something called the T-Junction. Madam Temporary Speaker, they collect the charges from the traders, but instead of that money coming directly to the County Revenue Fund (CRF) account, there is a T-Junction created there where illegal charges are made. The juice is supped in little amounts, so people become very wealthy. You cannot explain how they became wealthy because they do not have a business or factory, they are not trading or even registered anywhere, yet you see them having a lot of money to splash around because they steal from the T- junction. Madam Temporary Speaker, even as we discuss the National Rating Bill (National Assembly Bills No.55 of 2022), we must empower counties within the same Act. We should be creative enough to create a mechanism within that legal 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."
}