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"id": 1496945,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1496945/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Tabitha Mutinda",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. As I rise to give my submissions on this Bill, I have asked myself so many questions in terms of what this Bill is really curing. What are we trying to achieve, looking at both sides of the coin, as far as the issues of fundraising or Harambees, as we locally call them, are concerned? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you will agree with me, and my colleagues who have spoken earlier before me, that the major reasons for us conducting fundraising are mostly for purposes of helping. In most cases, fundraising is voluntary. It is a case of willing buyer and seller. However, what does it really focus on? It focuses mostly on education, medical, funerals and such like issues. It also applies to where we have publicly built public infrastructures. These range from mostly the schools and narrowing it down to our churches. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as far as building of churches is concerned, even the Bible says that the church shall be built by the people, and as Christians, we have done that well. However, I am happy that this Bill does not touch so much on the issue of the church. It does not affect the issues of tithe or any contributions as far as churches are concerned. The Bible is clear that it is us to build the churches and mosques. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, allow me to refer to the Bible. Proverbs 19:17 says- “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deed.” Further, Proverbs 22:9 says- “The generous will themselves be blessed for they will share their food with the poor. Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth or gives to the rich will only come to poverty.” Matters about giving generously are in the Bible. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill has touched on an additional responsibility to the Cabinet Secretary. Yesterday, we had two Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) who were supposed to appear before this House to answer to a number of questions that have been awaiting them to respond. Unfortunately, they were not able to appear before this House. Since last year when this House approved, in our Standing Orders that CSs should appear, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning appeared for the first time. So, you can imagine subjecting the CS to more responsibilities as far as the issue of harambee is concerned. If I do random statistics, you would agree with me, although I do not have the exact number, we might be having not less than even 2,000 harambees, as we speak, going on in this country because of the different issues that exist. If it is lower than that, it could be 1,500. Where is the time that the CS will have to vet all this with the necessary requirements that have been stated in this Bill to ensure timely response within the 14 days that have been stipulated? Will it be enough, putting in mind just in a day how many applications they can be? Why are we still giving more responsibility to the Ministry instead of focusing on the CS giving us the audit reports in regards to the issues of public debt, how much and how we intend to collect more revenue and timely disbursements of the funds to the counties as required? That is where the focus should be. 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."
}