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{
"id": 1499015,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1499015/?format=api",
"text_counter": 609,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Clause 3 of the Bill proposes to amend Section 13 of the Kenya Revenue Authority Act to provide that the Deputy Commissioners shall be appointed by the Commissioner-General. Previously, the law provided for the appointment of the Deputy Commissioners by the Board. In my view, this is a bit controversial, and we need to amend it. So, Hon. (Dr) Oundo, please, prepare to bring an amendment on that. I personally think we need to give the power to the Board, not the Commissioner-General, as the law currently provides. The amendment is in line with good corporate governance practices, where the Commissioner-General or the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is responsible for the staff of the institution, while the Board appoints the Commissioner-General only. However, that is debatable. The Bill seeks to amend Section 15A of the Act to give the Cabinet Secretary power to waive the penalty that is payable by an appointed agent who fails to transfer funds that are collected, if the failure was inadvertent. That is very important. Or the person has been put under receivership or statutory management. That is a key pillar of this Bill. Members need to think through it. I do not know whether Hon. (Dr) Oundo got this correct, but that is what this Bill is trying to do. I want Hon. (Dr) Oundo to take note. I know you taught at the university earlier than me. No, I think almost the same time. The Bill seeks to amend Section 15A of the Act to give the Cabinet Secretary power to waive the penalty payable by an appointed agent who fails to transfer funds that are collected, if the failure was inadvertent, or the person has been put under receivership or statutory management. That is what Clause 4 intends to do. Hon. Deputy Speaker, this section provides that the Commissioner may appoint agents for even new banking services who are qualified to transfer all the funds that are collected to Central Bank of Kenya accounts. It also provides for a penalty, where an agent fails to transfer the funds. The amendment recognises that for various reasons not deliberated on the part of the agents, they may be unable to remit the funds. Therefore, the amendment is to allow the Cabinet Secretary to waive the penalty in the case of system downtime or non-compliance that is not deliberate, receivership or statutory management and Force-Majeure . Sometimes, an agent may fail to remit funds, not because he wanted to, but at the time when he wants to remit funds, the system is on downtime. And if there is downtime, then it might attract a penalty not because he wanted to, but it was inadvertent. Therefore, we give the Cabinet Secretary power to waive the penalty, not the payment. The penalty on the money that has not been remitted on time. Hon. Deputy Speaker, in summary - and I can see the Member of Parliament for Kathiani is listening very keenly - the Bill is important for the following reasons: 1. It will empower the Kenyan School of Revenue Administration to collaborate with other institutions, which is important. 2. It will streamline Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) operations in the appointment of deputy commissioners. 3. It will protect business and entrench fair tax administration. 4. It will enable the waiving of penalties in exceptional cases. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I, therefore, urge Members to support the Bill. This is a small Bill. It has just four clauses that we are amending, I have made it easy for anybody who is listening to understand what this Bill is about. There are certain issues that we may want to"
}