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{
    "id": 1477567,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1477567/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 252,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13589,
        "legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
        "slug": "maanzo-daniel-kitonga"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I congratulate Sen. Mariam Omar for what she has done. However, I want to bring to her attention that there is the Cooperatives Bill, 2024, being debated in the National Assembly, which is a much older Bill because it was there in 2021. This time round it is published by hon. Ichungwa. Those days it had been published by the then Leader of Majority. It lapsed because Parliament had come to an end. When I look at the two Bills, I believe hon. Ichungwa and hon. Mariam Omar should have a word, so that one Bill enriches the other. What Sen. Mariam Omar is proposing should be carried on board because it is as important as what the National Assembly is proposing. Otherwise, with all the confusion already existing in the cooperative movement, we further this confusion by having one law from National Assembly and another one from Senate crisscrossing each other. There is a debate going on in the National Assembly and another one going on here. From my experience, many Bills from the Senate die in the National Assembly. In fact, there had been an amendment similar to Sen. Mariam Omar’s, by the former nominated Senator, Sen. (Prof.) Zani. It was passed very well by the Senate and went to the National Assembly, but was delayed. I do not know whether it was intentionally or not. There was a very big argument between hon. Ichungwa’s Bill and the one from Sen. (Prof.) Zani, which had a lot of issues with public participation. The cooperative movement claimed that it had not been consulted properly. I hope we will not end up in the same. Sen. (Prof.) Zani's Bill was delayed, while the then Hon. Kimunya’s Bill was hurried. The National Assembly then, was very biased on the Bills coming from the Senate. The leadership of the two Houses should sit. We do not waste the House's time on Bills we can deal with very simply and get things moving within the country and serve the people. The cooperative movement is a very important movement. It has 15 million people who are waiting for better services and laws. The Government should manage cooperatives in this country profitably. The stealing in cooperatives should be reduced and the movement help Kenyans thrive. The SACCOs, which have another law that no one is proposing amendments, command a very huge percentage of savings in Kenya. In fact, some SACCOs are like harambee . They are bigger than banks. We have the Cooperative Bank of Kenya and CIC Insurance Group. All these are huge enterprises working with cooperatives. It is upsetting when the law is confused as it is now, where two Houses are trying to amend one law to achieve one purpose, yet they cannot sit down and amalgamate or synchronize, so that it serves the country better. The cooperative movement is also international. When you go to Canada, you will find the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA). In Kenya, we have the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Co-operatives (KUSCCO). In the United States of America (USA), there are very strong SACCO societies. The credit unions in USA are bigger than banks and have been instrumental in building the economy of USA. The cooperative movement is very important. We have all these matatu SACCOs awaiting serious changes of the law. We have businesses which need to be managed better. We have rice, coffee and tea farmers in cooperative societies. We have many problems The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
}