HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 180114,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/180114/?format=api",
"text_counter": 268,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 159,
"legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
"slug": "robinson-githae"
},
"content": " Thank you Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for recognising me and giving me this opportunity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this very important Bill. This Bill should have come yesterday. As it is, some parts have been overtaken by developments in 3450 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 12, 2008 technology. Technology is moving at a very fast pace. It is actually embarrassing that since 1998, we have not amended the Act. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will speak on four issues. One, is to recognise that today mobile phones are not a luxury. They are a necessity. I think everybody in this country now has a mobile phone. In fact, Kenyans have more mobile phones than bank accounts. They are also important in the sense that they help during emergencies. Even more so in view of the fact that landlines that used to be there are no longer there. This is because some Kenyans have formed a very bad habit of stealing telephone wires. They have all been stolen and all that remains are posts. Kenyans have been stealing those wires because we have not kept pace with modern technology. If you go to Rwanda, they have done away with telephone wires. All they have now are wireless telephones. When you arrive at the airport, you apply for a landline and by the time you reach your house, the line is already activated. This is because there are no wires to be installed and no survey to be done. We need to move in that direction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we talk about technology even electricity should be included. We waste so much time having meter readers coming to your house, knocking on your door to be allowed to read meters. This is old technology. In our neighbouring country, Rwanda, they no longer have electricity meter readers. If you want to pay your electricity bill, you are given an electronic card. You then just go and put money in it and fix the card at your meter. As you consume electricity, it deducts the amount from the card. After the amount is exhausted, electricity is switched off. This would help to resolve disputes relating to electricity bills. We need to move with technology. It is unfortunate that we have wasted too much time before moving with technology. However, at least now, we have recognised this and we are taking certain steps and measures in the right direction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the things that has been amazing me is that we do not register our telephone number owners. You find some crooks with as many as 100 telephone numbers. The possibility of misusing these numbers is very high. In countries like Singapore and Turkey, they do not sell a foreigner a mobile telephone before he or she produces a copy of his or her passport. I am glad that, at least, we have recognised this mess in which we have been and now there will a requirement for registration of telephone numbers. This will even prevent fraudsters from using these telephone numbers. Previously, Sim cards were expensive. They were going for Kshs500 but today, a Sim card costs Kshs20. There are companies that are actually giving them free of charge. This has encouraged fraudsters to acquire numerous telephone numbers which they keep misusing. I am glad that the problem has been recognised and it is being taken care of by the Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the telecommunication industry is growing. We need to encourage even more players in this market. I remember I bought my first mobile telephone which was being sold by the then Kenya Post and Telecommunications Corporation for over Kshs200,000. It was a walkie-talkie because it was so big. However, the new GSM technology came, and a telephone is now Kshs1,500. I am even told that there are some companies that are now giving them free of charge. You can see we have moved from a cost of Kshs200,000 to \"free\" because it is conditional. Therefore, we need to encourage as many players as possible as this will bring down the cost of telephony in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it was ridiculous that to make an overseas call was cheaper than to call across to another service provider. However, I am glad that from as high as Kshs50, it has gone down to Kshs8 for inter-connectivity. That is the way it should go. We should even license more. I would encourage the Ministry to license more providers. If you look at the time Econet has wasted in this country, I think they were issued with a licence about six years ago but they have not yet rolled out their services. This is a result of numerous busybodies. We even need to license two or three more mobile providers. Let the market determine the equilibrium. November 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3451 Somebody said that you can make calls at Kshs1 per minute. I am sure if we got another company, it will come to 50 cents per minute. If we get another one, it will come to 30 cents. If we get another it comes to 20 cents or even 10 cents! Let us license as many providers are possible. There should not be a maximum number. Let the market determine the number of players. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me come to the issue of hate messages which are transmitted through mobile phones. We saw this during elections in 2007. We received numerous hate massages disparaging one presidential candidate against another and one community against another. It is unfortunate that because of my hate for these hate messages, I deleted all of them. I wish they were there, I could have read a few of them. Unfortunately, I deleted all those that I received. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue is, should we regulate the Short Messages Service (SMS)? SMSs are the in-thing, or what the youth say \"sasa ni poa.\" Sometimes, we are even invited to meetings through SMSs. So, we cannot abolish or ban them. I believe that it is the person who sends the hate message whom we should target, and not the service provider. The service provider only acts as a medium of transmission. The person that we need to take action against is the one who originates the hate message and not the message itself. It is like killing the messenger. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me now come to vernacular radio stations. It is even in the Kriegler Report that a few vernacular radio stations transmitted hate, or derogatory messages. But let us put the blame where it rightly belongs. Is it the radio that is at fault? To me, it is that person who is giving that message, whom we should target and not the radio station itself. It is that person who is issuing hate or derogatory messages. That is the person whom we should target. The only thing that the radio station can do is to vet the kind of people they invite to its studios. I believe in the freedom of speech, and I would not want to be, in any way, associated with trying to limit freedom of information, or freedom of the Press. So, we must blame the right person, and that is the person who is giving out the hate message and not the radio station itself. Some people are saying that we should ban vernacular radio stations. Our mothers and fathers in the rural areas do not know English or Kiswahili; so, they depend on vernacular radio stations to receive messages, entertainment and funeral announcements. In fact, we need to encourage vernacular radio stations. Since we have 42 communities in this country, we should actually have 42 vernacular radio stations. Each community should have its own stations, so that we take care of the old people at home, who do not know any English or Kiswahili. If you go to Russia, their vernacular language is Russian. They broadcast in Russian. If you go to France, their vernacular language is French. They broadcast in French. So, we need to be proud of our languages. They are very rich and, in fact, we need to encourage more vernacular radio stations. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad to see that our local television stations have started financing local television programmes. It was ridiculous to find that more than 90 per cent of the content used to be foreign. For now, I am glad that a number of television stations are now financing local programmes, which are very popular. We started with Vioja mahakamani . New programmes were not forthcoming, but now we have new ones like Tabasamu, Beba Beba and my favourite Papa Shirandula . That is my favourite and I enjoy it. We need to encourage television stations to sponsor these local programmes. I know it is expensive, but we need to encourage them. I am glad that the Minister will have power to give certain directions, or policy guidelines, on local content. In fact, if he could even have 100 per cent control on local content, I would be happy. Since we have young actors and actresses, we need to encourage them, so that they can make this acting a full-time business and earn their livelihoods. In the United States of America (USA), the most highly paid people are the actors. But in this country, they are given peanuts. For one programme, they are paid Kshs5,000. If it was in USA, they would be paid millions. We want to create young millions, who work in television programmes. We should encourage the local 3452 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 12, 2008 television stations to come up with more local programmes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also do not recognise heroes who act in the television programmes and films. In the USA, they are recognised and decorated. Some of them have died but, we do not recognise them. There was Othorong'ong'o Danger who should be decorated. There is also Mama Kayai who should be recognised. That is the only way in which we will have an industry that is self-supporting. I am also glad to see that the Minister has been given power to regulate confidential numbers. As a matter of policy, I do not pick any calls with hidden numbers. I ask myself why anybody would hide his or her number. So, as a matter of principle I do not pick such calls. In the same manner, I never hide my number at any time. I am glad that the Minister has been given power to regulate that. There is no good reason why anybody should hide his or her number. I am also glad to see that we have now recognised electronic evidence. As of now, our Evidence Act does not recognise electronic evidence. That lack of recognition has made the Attorney-General lose a number of cases, where information was held in electronic form. I am glad that, that has been recognised, and electronic evidence can now be received in court. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), during the Moi regime it was clear what the role of KBC was. But now we do not seem to know what the KBC should do. During the previous regime, news item number one was the President, second was the Vice-President, third was the Minister for Internal Security and fourth was the Minister for Finance. There was order and everybody accepted it. Then the Government used to fund the KBC. When the NARC Government took over, they said that the KBC should be a commercial station. That means that they were not to get funds from the Government, yet you wanted them to continue giving political messages. It cannot work. We have to decide. I can see that the Act is saying that the KBC is a public broadcaster; then it should be fully funded by the Government, so that it can broadcast Government programmes and policies. If you tell them to go and look for advertisements and at the same time, if they do not cover powerful Ministers, the Managing Director would be in problem, that is a contradiction. So, we need to decide what exactly is the role of KBC. If you say, for example, that it is the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), then it should be fully funded by the Government. Today, we have very many radio stations. Government officers used to listen to the 1.00 p.m news broadcast. That is the time KBC would announce who has been sacked and who has been promoted. At 1.00 p.m., Government Ministers would stop even by the roadside to listen to the bulletin. If one did not hear his or her name mentioned, they would say, \"Halleluya\" and then move on. We have moved from that situation. Even in this House, we have a number of hon. Members who were once sacked publicly over the radio. So, we need to make a decision. What is really the role of KBC? If it is a public broadcaster, then it must be fully funded by the Government. If we do that, then we shall have done good service to this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to address the issue of piracy. We have very good young musicians who produce very good music which all Kenyans enjoy. However, these people are still poor because of piracy. These musicians make good video or music CDs, but there are some fellows down in River Road who specialise in piracy. We need to take action. Although we may say that the Copyrights Act is not under the Ministry of Information and Communications, this is all about telecommunications. The Ministry should be involved so that we can protect our young musicians. They are doing a very good job, but they are still poor. So, we need to find ways of protecting their copyright so that nobody pirates their music. That way, they will start earning good money. I note that the Bill recognises community radios. This is a good thing and it should be encouraged. In fact, every sub-location should have its own radio. However, with regard to the licence fee, if you ask a local community radio station to pay a licence fee of Kshs1 million, where November 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3453 will they get that from? The licence there should be issued free of charge because we need to encourage community radio stations. They will just be talking about local issues and nothing to do with national issues. It will be mambo ya nyumbani, that is, there own internal affairs. There should be a provision that for community radio stations, the licence should either be nominal or free of charge. With regard to the Press, they are doing a commendable job. They are highly trained, but I think the problem is the news editors. If you go to a function and talk about development issues, that will not feature anywhere at all. However, when you talk siasa, that will be the headline. The Minister has been given powers to make regulations and issue policy guidelines. We need to advise both the electronic and print media to balance between development and politics. We cannot just be talking about politics all the time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me turn to the issue of shared services. If we are not careful, this country will have so many masts because every mobile phone company and radio station is going to have its own mast. There is a provision where the Minister can require these companies to share the masts. Why should you put up your own mast where another company has already put its own? Why can they not share a mast? That will reduce costs and the benefits will be transmitted to the local mwananchi who is the actual consumer of the mobile phone service. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these amendments are good and I fully support them. I, therefore, support the Bill."
}