Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1444081,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1444081/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 192,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Seki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13598,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Seki Kanar",
        "slug": "samuel-seki-kanar"
    },
    "content": "(MSMS), Jua Kali sector; people from different sectors, particularly from small businesses are struggling in our streets and towns to put food on the table. As a Committee, we deliberated on this Bill and we invited several stakeholders including the street vendors, Small Business Enterprises, the Jua Kali sector and several other business enterprises. We deliberated on the Bill quite well. This Bill has touched on several areas of businesses in the counties, and municipalities and it will also handle the small and medium businesses in our counties. On Clause Four, we found that it is good that we give the Cabinet Secretary one database of all the businesses in the entire country. This will be in liaison with county governments, which are more in touch with the business people, particularly in our streets and towns. That Clause tries to explain how movement of businesses will be taken care of, so that the database of the entire country can be kept by the Ministry in liaison with the county governments. Clause Three of the Bill talks about the designation of vending zones, which is a very important aspect. In fact, it is not there in most of our counties and municipalities such as Nairobi, Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu and many others. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Sen. Essy has put it very clearly that we have done quite a number of research in other counties and countries. We found that it is good that we define the restrictions of free areas where we categorize free zones. Thus, we brought in the issue of restricted vending zones and non-vending zones, which are important aspects in this Bill. The Bill further goes down to bring sanity in areas of planning our towns. It explains places that are suited and those that are not suited for vending, depending on population density. This Bill will help in the movement of people because in most of the towns, it is difficult for people to get out of town due to congestion of people and vehicles. This is because people just put their items somewhere on the ground and start selling. They even sell their goods outside other people’s shops. Therefore, this Bill tries to protect the interest of those people who also have shops. This is a very important Bill because we looked at how the rights of the vendors will be protected from the county government officials, a skaris and officers from the Ministry. They cannot decide to vandalize or even take out the vendors’ goods because they have not paid the county fee. So, this Bill, is a win-win situation. The county government will have the sanity on how to plan their towns and also protect a vendor, a business person or a small enterprise that is coming up. This is because we have seen quite a number of officers or business people losing their properties when askaris come to pick and harass them. The hawkers will see the light at the end of the tunnel because this Bill tries to protect all this. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill. This is the right time for county governments to be on the right track. It also gives county governments and the county assemblies a chance to do more regulations on how to implement these restrictions, particularly, on how it will suit the issues of planning in the counties. I do not want to take much of the time so that I give time to more Members to deliberate on this very important Bill for the counties. It will go hand in hand with the 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."
}