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{
    "id": 1511301,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1511301/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 377,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to second. I want to thank the Chairman and all the Members of his Committee for the immense work they did. Many a times, a lot of work is put into legislative work but nobody ever appreciates. Members of the public out there imagine that we only come here to speak for five minutes and vote without having applied our minds. Members of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning sat until this morning at 5.00 a.m., from last night. I must commend the Chairman, he is not looking his usual self, he looks a bit sleepy. His Vice-Chairman was here as early as 9.00 a.m., together with the Member for Kesses and Member for Baringo North. They both look sleepy. Hon. Ariko is on the verge of sleeping. Many other Members like Hon. Mboni, who is still in the House, sat up to 5.00 a.m., this morning. They wanted to finalise and give us this report. The Chairman and mover said that this Bill speaks about very important issues. Just like the Business Laws (Amendment) Bill. Hon. Members who never take time to interact with legislation, pick up things from social media and speak about them as if they are factual. As a Member of Parliament, you can speak on matters that are not factual, in a manner that makes people believe you know what you are speaking about. I heard a Member speaking about avocado farmers in the Business Laws (Amendment) Bill. I think it was the Member for Gatanga. You could clearly tell that he had not taken his time to interact with the Bill or bothered to read the Committee's report that was tabled yesterday. If he had read, he would not have used prime national television time to mislead the public or play populist politics. I want to thank the Chairman because he came very fast. I was watching him from my office and he responded to those issues. Many issues were raised by members of the public during public participation. I was keen when the mover was speaking to them. The courts told us that public participation should not be superficial. It must be quantitative and qualitative. The qualitative bit is showing members of the public that what they said during public participation will be considered as we legislate and pass the Bill. We are not debating this Bill in its original form but as informed by the Committee. For those who bothered to read the report, the Committee is proposing to remove the Digital Service Tax. The reason is that if you are selling iPhones online and somebody else is selling from a shop or establishment in town, if we charge the Digital Service Tax that was proposed, nobody will sell anything online. Everybody may opt to open an establishment or shop in town so as not to pay. The same thing with the VAT on passenger air tickets. If I am running a tours and travel business in Nairobi and somebody else is running the same business in Arusha or has a branch"
}