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"id": 180113,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Chanzu",
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"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to support this important Bill. I feel compelled to support the Bill because some of the issues which the Assistant Minister has mentioned here happen to have been part and parcel of deliberations in the Board of the Communications Commission. I was shortly on recess from this House and I was appointed to the Board of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK). I know this is a job that has been well done. That is because it involved highly qualified and competent members of staff in the sector. The process also involved the stakeholders. What makes it very exciting is the fact that previously, the sector was open to those who could do whatever they could to run business in the sector. But what I see from this Bill is that there are comprehensive measures to regulate, direct and control the sector, which is very good for the economy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what is also very gratifying is the provision for independence of the CCK to enable it run the sector. What hampered some of the activities before was Government bureaucracy. I am happy that there is a section in this Bill which seeks to give the CCK independence, so that it can operate in a business-like manner. Recently, just for the training of those who are going to operate in the sector, the Kenya College of Communications Technology November 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3449 (KCCT) reverted to the CCK. That is a milestone development because CCK will now be able to manage whatever we are talking about, through training of our own people for the sector. So, there are measures which have been put in place, and which I think are very commendable. Hon. Members will recall that a few years back, one of the big operators, who was operating in a near monopolistic way, attempted to jam stations belonging to other operators. At that time, it was very difficult for CCK to do anything about it. I am happy that today, we are talking about measures which are going to get over that issue. We have, in this Bill, a clause dealing with the kind of penalties payable by such offenders. All the proposed penalties have been quantified in terms of money, which is very good. There are penalties for trespass and wilful obstruction of telecommunication. That is a penalty levied against someone who obstructs a communication officer from performing his lawful duties. That has been quantified in terms of money. That is in the Bill. There is a penalty for operating without a licence, which is very commendable. Earlier this year, an hon. Member brought a Motion to this House about text messaging. This Bill refers to the same as unlawful sending of misleading messages, et cetera . This Bill now takes care of that. The issue of ravaging messages that the public has received over mobile phones is also being taken care of. There is also a clause that is of great significance to the sector and the economy. It talks about deliberate interference with radio communication. The previous speaker talked about the issue of security. Previously, without this kind of law, it would have been possible for somebody to deliberately interfere with radio communication, either internally or externally, and we would have no recourse. The Act now gives us recourse for such an action. The Universal Service Fund, as proposed in this Bill, is a milestone. That is because it is going to take care of those who do not have a lot of funds to invest in the sector. Once this is put in place, those who may wish to take loans can apply from the CCK Board, and they will be considered on their own merit. Previously, when we were talking about companies like Safaricom and Zain being monopolies, we saw the amount of money we were paying for a single phone call. To call from Safaricom to Kencel, it must have been more than Kshs50 per minute. Today, we are talking about calling for Kshs4 per minute. Now that there is competition, we are even getting incentives from those companies. Mobile telephone companies now give people telephone sets in order to attract them to use their services. So, this Bill has not come in the right time. It has come rather too late. That is because Kenyans have been exploited over time. However, it is better late than never. Finally, there is the issue of transmission of offensive material by post, or through postal articles. There are two items here, as we look into this. We have not been able to put in place how we are going to detect those who have transmitted offensive materials through the post. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another issue I noted is that of unlawful opening of postal articles by non-employees of the licensee. I do not know whether we will put into place measures of detecting this. But if it going to be detected, that is great. This is because someone could even send you bhang through the post office and put your name. I think this could be taken care of. There are a number of issues. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}