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{
    "id": 1511182,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1511182/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 258,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Aldai, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Marianne Kitany",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The other issue that comes with the business laws is the calibration services. Most of the time, customers complain that a bag of cement being sold by one of the cement companies is 40 kilogrammes instead of 50 kilogrammes. Sometimes, we buy a 500-gramme loaf of bread, but when you weigh it, it is 400 grammes. One of the functions that we are introducing in the Standards Act (Cap 496) is the establishment of calibration facilities across the country. These facilities will ensure that the product sold to the customer carries the weight within which it indicates. Sometimes, customers say the bread is not 500 grammes, but it is probably because their weighing scale is not calibrated. So, the amendments to the Standards Act (Cap 496) will ensure that every part of this country has calibration services. Additionally, in cases where we cannot do calibration, we will have accredited calibration service providers to give us calibration. We have also said that KENAS must accredit any company that will perform conformity assessment in Kenya. This is to avoid situations whereby many conformity assessment bodies in the country seek accreditation services outside the county, thereby denying the country the required revenue and using unknown standards. So, the accreditation service in Kenya will ensure that the services of bodies performing conformity assessments have been accredited here in Kenya. We are happy that the Leader of the Majority Party has said that he will drop the Scrap Metal (Amendment) Bill because we recently amended the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill passed on this Floor, which I now understand is in the Senate. However, the Scrap Metal (Amendment) Bill will be re-introduced to this House after about six months. This is because, as a Committee, we have also looked at the whole Act, and there are various amendments that we will propose that cannot be carried out in any omnibus legislation but on its own. The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are one area covered under the business laws. Previously, there was a minimum land acreage. However, since land is a scarce resource that does not grow, as a Committee, we have proposed a minimum investment amount that can be put in an area considered an SEZ to encourage investments there. Some of the add-ons we will get in the SEZs are incentives and tax benefits granted to anyone operating there as a developer or an enterprise. A few of those tax benefits are, for example, giving a ten-year moratorium on tax benefits and incentives for companies in the SEZs. We will also introduce a one-stop shop for all enterprises operating in the SEZs. This will make our country a good destination point for investors. Currently, many investors are going to our neighbouring countries because of certain benefits offered there. However, now that we are introducing a one-stop shop where all services will be put together, the investment will become easy for any investor coming into this"
}