Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1590460,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1590460/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 390,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "favourable to Kenyans. Much work goes into preparing a Finance Bill. We know that a Finance Bill is new every year. It amends quite a number of laws. We have to commend the Committee for the judicious work they have done in combing through our laws: The Income Tax Act, The Value Added Tax, The Excise Duty Act, The Tax Procedures Act, and all other miscellaneous laws that exist, for them to compile such a good Report that we are debating this afternoon. I see reason to celebrate. That is why I support this Bill. Those of us in the ICT and digital economy sector see a reason to smile. The proposals being made here are going to issue tax incentives on spectrum licence. As you would understand, connectivity as of today, is not a luxury. Even what we used to think of a utility like mobile connectivity, telephony or computer connection through the internet is no longer a luxury. Today, connectivity is a matter of life and death. Even more importantly, the investment that goes to allow connectivity is a very heavy capital investment. We know that a telecommunication company putting up a mast, a tower or anything that has to do with connectivity and even broadband fibre will transfer to the end user who is the public. That is if they could get some relief through tax incentives. For that reason, I stand to support this Finance Bill. Combing through this Report and looking at the proposals made in this Finance Bill, I see that we seek to zero-rate local assembly of mobile phones. Many might not know but we in Kenya today, are moving towards being a device manufacturer. If you visit Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, you shall find young Kenyans assembling mobile phones and tablets. Those will be accessible to Kenyans. Some at a cost lower than Ksh5,000. When this Finance Bill zero-rates local assembly of mobile phones, not only are we increasing accessibility to these devices, but we are also connecting our country further and growing the digital and creative economy by availing affordable gadgets to the hands of local content creators and developers who develop applications. Some of the young people are doing an amazing job of coding solutions for the country to benefit from this Finance Bill if we as a House agree to zero rate local assembly of mobile phones. I can assure you that by that one act of zero-rating the local assembly of mobile phones, we will drastically lower the cost of those that shall be assembled in this country. Hon. Temporary Speaker, this Finance Bill, 2025 proposes that we zero-rate the local assembly of electric motorcycles, bicycles and buses. We do not produce oil. We do not have oil wells in this country. The oil we depend on for fuel is imported at a premium price, at a time when we need to secure our foreign exchange. If we move towards this drive of electric vehicles, we will produce unlimited power. This country produces green power from geothermal. We also produce power from hydroelectricity. So, electric vehicles are a solution today and in the future of this country. I commend the Committee for the judicious work they have done, and listening to Kenyans. They heard some of these extremely innovative and progressive ideas like zero-rating the local assembly of electric motor vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and buses. When the Chairman of the Committee was moving the Report, I noted the proposal to delete Clause 52 of the Bill. It says that Section 59A of the Tax Procedures Act is amended by deleting subsection (1B). I support the Committee's move in their Report to delete Clause 52 of the Bill. There is a good reason for it. It seeks to delete from our laws a provision in the data management and reporting system. Our laws provide that the Commissioner may establish a data management reporting system for the submission of electronic documents, including detailed transactional data pertaining to these documents. Subsection (1B) of the Tax Procedures Act provide that the Commissioner shall not require a person to integrate or share data relating to trade secrets, and private or personal data held on behalf of customers or collected in the course of business. 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."
}