Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1504334,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1504334/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 245,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Generals are interviewed and appointed by the Board of Directors of the Kenya Revenue Authority in line with the tenets of corporate governance as it happens in other corporates. In an institution like ours, you are elected as the Speaker by the Members of Parliament who form the Board of Elections. They also elect the Deputy Speaker. It is against this background that I sought to drop Clause 3. Therefore, I will be doing that since the communication had not come from your office. In the Committee of the whole House, I will move a proposal to drop Clause 3. As soon as Hon. Osoro does the needful … In the Committee of the whole House, I will drop that particular clause to ensure that there is proper corporate governance in all our public institutions including parastatals. It will not be fair, for instance, for the Managing Director of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company to appoint his own deputy. Let us leave that to the Board of Directors so that it can interview people and give them jobs based on merit. If there will be a weakness in one office, that will not trickle down to the other offices. With a Board as the oversight body of any parastatal or State corporation, it will be easier to ensure that corporate governance is enhanced. Many Members who contributed to the Bill alluded to the need of having a specialised school on revenue mobilisation in the country. That is what the Kenya School of Revenue Administration (KESRA) is doing. It is owned by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). Those of us who have had the privilege to go to business schools in this country and the wider East African region know that KESRA has been training revenue officers not just from our country but also from other countries in the region. Members are aware that all public and private universities in our country that offer degree courses do not have specialised degree courses in revenue administration. Therefore, it is important that we allow KESRA to administer tax and customs training in collaboration with public universities. The Kenya School of Revenue Administration in collaboration with the University of Nairobi School of Business or with Strathmore University School of Accounting can offer specialised degrees in revenue administration so that as we progress, we do not have revenue officers in the KRA who belong to the school of thought of walking into business premises to harass people. The mobilisation of revenue in the country must be done in a way that it is respectful to the taxpayers, does not discourage people from investing in business in this country and encourages taxpayers to pay their taxes. Therefore, it is important that we empower KESRA to train our young men and women to offer these services in a very good way. I have nothing much to add because this Bill is a very short one. I was buying time in replying for other reasons. I am being encouraged to mention one other thing that I did not mention. We all know that we have already begun the budget-making process. Members of the public and ourselves are aware that in October we begin collecting views from members of the public through public participation that is by the National Treasury. We will get the annual estimates by the end of April next year. I want to encourage all of us to participate in the budget-making process. Many of us wait until the last minute when the annual estimates books are tabled on the Floor of this House. We want to start perusing the books and ask, for example, if a road in our constituency or a water pond has been factored. Now is the time to start engaging with the Government Ministries and Departments to ensure that what we want captured in the next year's budget is, indeed captured. We will make it easy for KRA – even as we pass this Bill for them – when they will be training the revenue officers to collect revenue with ease. With those very many remarks, I beg to reply and thank all the Members that contributed."
}