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{
    "id": 1441406,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1441406/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 152,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Dorothy Muthoni",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. At the outset, I support this Bill. I was seated in the House and participated actively in passing the Budget and Appropriation Bill when it was presented before us. We came up with a lot of issues because we made many pledges to Kenyans when we were elected. Each and every Hon. Member of this House made pledges. We know what that means. We promised the electorate good roads, medicine in hospitals and proper education for their children. This informs us of where the country is today. Since Kenya faces both a fiscal and a budget deficit, the Finance Bill serves as a key legislative tool for the Government. It combines revenue enhancing measures with expenditure rationalisation as a strategy to manage and reduce those deficits. For the first time, a Finance Bill is similar to the medium-term review. This offers better planning and consistency for our country. This Finance Bill is people-centred. I personally participated when the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, led by the very able Chairman, Hon. Kuria Kimani, went around seeking public views on the proposed Budget. It is for this reason that after they listened to the citizens of this country, they came up with a number of changes that are all in favour of the citizens. Aside from the key highlights, which the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning addressed, some of the initial proposals have now been dropped. Key among them is the 16 per cent VAT on bread. They listened to the members of the public and it is not there anymore. VAT on transportation of bulky things like sugar-cane – they listened to the citizens and it was removed. There is no increase in the mobile money transfer. Yesterday, as I was passing through one of the streets in Nairobi, I heard people shouting. Citizens of this country were severely misled that mobile money transfer charges will not be removed. The Committee listened to the citizens and this is one of the things that was removed. Excise duty on edible oil is no longer there. As the Leader of the Majority Party has alluded to, what this Bill has tried to do is to promote the local manufacturers. It is very clear that moving forward, the local manufacturers like the locally assembled bikes would be assembled duty-free, as opposed to the imported ones. We also have another very good advantage that the eTIMS has been excluded from farmers and small businesses who have a turnover below Ksh1 million. This is a clear manifestation that this Government is a bottom-up Government as we had promised the electorate. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}