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{
    "id": 1508021,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1508021/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 776,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Masinga, Independent",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Joshua Mwalyo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute. I thank our Committee for bringing this Motion. I am a member of the Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Co-operatives. This Motion has been before us for some time. We were able to discuss it with the multi-nationals and the locals. We found out that new investors who come to this country are favoured because they are given tax holidays, while our local investors are not. There should be fair play in all sectors so that investors who want to make a profit are not disadvantaged by those who are given tax holidays. Some people come to retail the products that our importers are importing. They buy the same products from the same manufacturers in their countries. They then come here and start retailing those products at a lower price than those who imported the same products and were charged duty while they were given a tax holiday for about a year or so. There should be fairness so that local manufacturers and traders can feel that they belong to this country, and that they can grow their companies to middle-class companies that will one day become the blue-chip companies. Multi-nationals once started small. There should be a level playing field. The “big boys” who have been around for some time, have been manufacturing for many years. They have grown our economy. They knew this country from when it was nothing to when it became something. A big multi-national then enters the market and is given a tax rebate. Those who have been manufacturing similar products end up being disadvantaged and feeling unwanted. That is why you see them saying that they are opening branches in Uganda, Rwanda or Tanzania, and leaving our country. They have developed our country in terms of employment and paying high taxes. There should be a level playing field. That is what the Committee is urging our country to do, so that we can benefit everyone, from the smallest to the biggest companies, the start-ups to the multinationals, and the importers to the exporters. There should be a level playing field so that Kenyans can feel that they belong to this country."
}