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{
    "id": 17304,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/17304/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 440,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Michuki",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 183,
        "legal_name": "John Njoroge Michuki",
        "slug": "john-michuki"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as you have heard, I rise to second this Finance Bill which the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance introduced before this House for the current financial year. He has given a summary of what the Bill is all about; issues of adjustments of the law where it has not been working properly, the issues of level of taxation and the issues of charges that will raise revenue to facilitate the policies that are interpreted in the Budget to be financed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am sure that hon. Members know that the Budget is arithmetical interpretation of policies. This is because it clothes - if I may put it that way - those policies with the means with which to be carried out. I do not know about now, but that is why the Bill would be placed before the Committee of Ways and Means. The ways and means are stipulated in the Finance Bill. Therefore, in support of those policies, we have to find funds through this Finance Bill. I think it is important also to mention that the Finance Bill cannot be considered in isolation of other macro and micro-economic policies that prevail within the economy that we have to run for the people of this country. There was a debate here which was, in my view, completely not in consonance with what had been requested; the issue of our currency as it stands today. Listening to the questions that were being raised, it ignored the fact that there are two aspects to this. I am now talking about the policy for which we are now looking for money to implement. One aspect is that as importers into Kenya suffer because of the consequences of the depreciating shilling, we had forgotten that we have exporters who are also laughing all the way to the bank because the position of the Shilling is benefiting them from that point of view. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, the debate although out of questions that arose, was not quite balanced, if I may put it that way. The problems the Minister and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) are dealing with are worldwide. In the Euro-zone in Europe, everybody is running away from the Euro. This is because the currency situation is so serious that it has been affected by the size of deficits that many countries in Europe are now experiencing. Therefore, many people who hold or held the Euro have been running away from it into the Dollar."
}