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{
"id": 1495671,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1495671/?format=api",
"text_counter": 56,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning, Ministry of Trade, Investment and Industry, and others like the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, have already begun that stakeholder engagement and sensitisation of Kenyans on the import of those Bills, the policies they are anchored on and the positive impact they will have on businesses. As the National Assembly, we also need to engage in that stakeholder engagement. For us to have time for meaningful, qualitative and quantitative public participation as we have been told by the courts, we thought it was important to reduce the publication period by those two days. This will ensure that the Bills come for First Reading and the relevant committees begin the engagement with the public. This is by sensitising and informing them so that we pre-empt what we saw happen with the Finance Bill, 2024 in June, and many other Bills including the land amendment clause, where people pick up just a small element of a legislative proposal and spin it in a narrative that will suit their political narratives and not necessarily the truth. We have, therefore, learnt that informing Kenyans should be part of what we should do early. We want to use this opportunity to begin informing Kenyans. Hence, the reason I said that I thank the Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning, Ministry of Trade, Investment and Industry and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, for the sensitisation they have done with this particular legislative proposal. Even before they submitted the legislative proposals to the National Assembly, I know the ministries advertised for Kenyans to submit their views on each of the legislative proposals that they wanted to touch on, whether on manufacturing or on tax procedures, and how Kenyans would expect to have a tax system that is more efficient, fair and justifiable. From the many proposals that Kenyans gave to the Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Industry, they were sieved down into the legislative proposals that were brought to the House. As I said, they further engaged stakeholders on Citizen Television last week. It will now be our time as the National Assembly to meaningfully engage Kenyans. I trust that the chairpersons of the Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Co- operatives, the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, and the Departmental Committee on Environment, Forestry and Mining, Hon. Gakuya, Hon. Kimani Kuria and Hon. Gikaria, who are here, will engage Kenyans on many of those proposals. This will ensure that Kenyans are well informed and not misinformed and disinformed by those who are intent on disinforming and misinforming them. As I said, many of those proposals are critical not just for the continuity of business in this country, but also to ensure that businesses are saved from the penalties and interests that are being levied to them by KRA on account of tax arrears. Many people are suffering from cheap imports that we can protect them from. It is our duty as legislators to protect our local industries so that we may spur growth from the manufacturing sector of our economy. Hon. Deputy Speaker, when we were in Naivasha, we had an engagement with KEPSA. When the Chairman of KEPSA spoke in that meeting, he indicated how manufacturers today are shifting to other destinations like Uganda and Tanzania because they have created a more conducive manufacturing environment than ours. These incentives that are contained in this Business Laws (Amendment) Bill are to create a conducive manufacturing sector in our country. The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal (Amendment) Act has good proposals. I ask the Members to apprise themselves with the contents of these Bills so that when they are confronted by the media with questions about what is contained in them, they are informed. We heard somebody saying she does not know the difference between the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and Shifo . I will be very embarrassed to hear the same Member say she does not know the difference between the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal (Amendment) Bill, the Tax Procedures (Amendment) Bill or the Business Laws (Amendment) Bill. Let us apprise ourselves with the contents of all these Bills."
}