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{
    "id": 1521394,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1521394/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 275,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kesses, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Rutto",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "country, it is rising. Some people find themselves in the industry just because it can give them an earning at the end of the day. What happens is that it causes a lot of chaos and confusion. Occasionally, people have lost their valuables and money even when they thought they had covered the risk. This is because they were neither guided well nor had clear instruments or tools to confer confidence to a particular person. Hon. Temporary Speaker, whereas we have heard many people talk about the whole sector, this Bill is unique because it will organise the sector. A system minus people is a failed system. We have had many systems in place that have created many levels and brought much confusion to those levels. When someone is affected, there is no clear body or person to run to, plead, or appeal their case. This particular Bill is going to do three major things. First, it is establishing an Institute. The Institute is tasked with an enormous role. Its major role is to ensure that it constitutes people operating within a given standardised environment guided by a legal framework that will guide this particular practice. Second, it defines insurance practitioners. In professions like accounting, for which I am a certified public accountant, an accountant is defined in the Accountants Act. For a person to be an accountant, other than going through normal education, knowledge, and skills, they have to be subjected to another training to ensure they are well knowledgeable of this particular practice. That person is certified after accomplishing that training through the Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Examination Board (KASNEB). They are then subjected to another institute called the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), which they register. They are taken through proper training and testing by a practitioner or a professional until the person has enough knowledge to discharge his duty. The Insurance Practitioners Act proposed in this Bill will ensure consumers and Kenyans have confidence in the people they will engage. Let us look at the chaos in the Matatu sector. Some people have found an opportunity in it, but others lose a lot of money. We have emerging issues like the bodaboda sector, where we do not understand how to evaluate the risk. This is because we do not have people who have devised a policy on assessing the risk of a customer who sits exposed without any support, yet they are moving on roads with a lot of risk. If you visit Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, you will find victims of accidents. They have a dedicated facility to address the issue. Families suffer because no insurance company is ready to take up those challenges. This is because the sector is not organised and does not have knowledgeable people. One of the issues that we have to appreciate that this Bill introduces is the standardisation of the Kenyan insurance sector to match international standards. This means that any business or Kenyan can be covered in the country and accepted even outside Kenya. Alternatively, anybody can acquire insurance in Kenya, undertake the risk, and get confidence for that business to take place. This body will ensure that we have linkage, partnership and liaison with other insurance bodies to ensure that world standards are brought back to the Republic of Kenya so that the Kenyan insurance sector is appreciated globally. That will give latitude to our country in moving forward. Another issue is indiscipline. You realise most of these practitioners have been going scot-free, yet they have been messing around because nobody is checking on them. This body will ensure that quality assurance is undertaken and enhanced, proper supervision is done now and then, and follow-up is undertaken now and then, including Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training. This institute will ensure that CPD is provided for practitioners so that they have an opportunity to become acquainted with emerging issues in the sector. They ensure that they can discharge their duty in a manner that can befit the required situation at that particular moment. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}