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{
    "id": 1441551,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1441551/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 297,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Makueni County, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Suzanne Kiamba",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me a chance to also contribute to this very important Bill. First and foremost, it is prudent for Kenya to compare itself with our neighbours on taxation rate. However, it is evident that, as we compare ourselves with other countries in the region who are taxing their people much more than us, we have to look at the local context on where Kenyans are. Currently, Kenyans are economically vulnerable, and on their knees. Anybody attempting to add anything on top of the suffering Kenyans will not do justice. It is dishonest for us to get input from international financiers and imagine that Kenya is in the same situation. It is important to realise that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy of Kenya has not picked up. Taxing Kenyans higher is making them vulnerable and unable to survive. Everybody is saying that we are taxing them to repay our debts. I agree that we have to repay our debt. But those debts have been acquired over a 61-year period. You cannot acquire debt in 61 years and want to do away with it in two years. That means over-burdening the people of Kenya. We have to be strategic in dealing with debt. Kenyans are not dying tomorrow. We need to pay the debt in a manner that enables the people to continue to grow. So, when I hear this passion of wanting to tax Kenyans more to pay the debt, I wonder. We need to recognise that this debt is very old. We should be strategic in dealing with the debts for the next five to seven years. That way, we will allow Kenyans to survive. Thirdly, it is shocking that since the Finance Bill, 2023, we have been borrowing money to do reproductive activities. We say we are poor and in need of money. But the little money we get, we put it in housing and health care. While I accept they are valuable programs, you cannot have the few coins put into productive health. That is putting the small coins in a dead hole. When you build a house, when will it generate income so that you collect taxes? We need to sit down and have a Finance Bill that is strategic, enabling, and can take Kenya forward. We cannot have a Finance Bill which is putting the little money we get into a hole. When we go and build everybody a house, it is a good thing. But is it right for us now? The small money we have, we must put it in a productive activity. I do not see anything like that in this Finance Bill. 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."
}