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"id": 180344,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/180344/?format=api",
"text_counter": 223,
"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 giving me this opportunity. I rise to support the Finance Bill. First of all, I would like to commend the Minister; since he was transferred to that Ministry, I think he has done a good job. I would also like to take 3358 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 11, 2008 this opportunity to thank the body which is in charge of tax collection, the KRA, for the good job it is doing under the leadership of the Commissioner-General and all the other commissioners. I am saying this because the Commissioner-General and his staff have saved this country. When we had the chaos that resulted from the elections in January and February, I was a very worried man. I was worried that revenue collection would go down and, therefore, all the Government programmes that we had even promised our people when they were electing us would not be fulfilled. But I am happy to see that this did not dent the revenue collection so much. I would, therefore, like to take this opportunity, on behalf of all Kenyans, to thank the Commissioner-General for a job well done. But as we thank him, there are some things that we also need to do. One of the things that I find odd in this country is the number of registrations required. We have a different Income Tax number, a different PAYE number, different VAT number, a different Excise Duty number, a different Customs Duty number and a different PIN number. Why can we not just have one number which you can use to transact your business with, whether you are dealing with Income Tax, PAYE, VAT, Excise Duty, Customs Duty or other revenues? This is what happens in other countries. In fact, other countries have even gone further than this; an example is Botswana. Your birth certificate number is the number which is your ID, Income Tax number, PAYE number, VAT number, Excise Duty number, Custom Duty number and even your PIN number. I think if we were to do this, the KRA would collect even much more revenue, because they would be able to relate one person to another. At the moment, all these numbers are used by different departments and this makes things difficult. We must also commend the KRA because we have been able to finance free education in primary and secondary schools. As I said, I was worried that we would not afford the free education that President Kibaki had promised when he was campaigning because of the chaos that occurred later. I was a very worried man. I thought that the Government would not be able to fulfil that. But I am glad that we now have free secondary school education in addition to free primary education, which was started in 2003. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we talk about tax exemptions, these benefits must be handed over to the mwananchi. There is a law which I do not know whether traders understand it because they do not pass on these benefits to the local mwananchi. A loaf of bread now costs over Kshs45. How many people can afford it? Now that the Minister has zero-rated tax on wheat and other substances, we hope these benefits will be passed over to mwananchi so that they can continue eating bread. We also need to be a little bit innovative. Before wheat came, we had millet and sorghum and people could even make bread from them. Why can we also not start making bread from millet and sorghum? That will be cheap and affordable to all. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am also glad that the road construction is going on. I am in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government and we travel a lot locally. Wherever I visit any part of the country, you will find that most of the times there is a road being done there. Let me commend the Minister for allocating money to one road in my constituency; Kagio-Baricho-Kerugoya and Kagio-Baricho-Kibirigwi Road. That road had been abandoned more than 30 years ago but at least now we have been given some money to proceed with its construction. So, I am glad. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, also some money has been allocated to the Rural Electricity Development Authority (REDA). The Ministry of Energy and REDA are doing a good job but again, we have a problem. Transformers are being stolen and vandalised. It is the order of the day. When we find them installing transformers and advise them against installing them in risky places. When we ask them to install those transformers at secure places, they tell us that they cannot do so because they are following drawings. So, we wonder who is this who makes these November 11, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3359 drawings and cannot design them such that the transformers are placed in secure places. As we speak, we have now moved from vandalising transformers to vandalising telephone wires. All the telephone wires have disappeared. Rail and bridge guards are now being stolen. This is dangerous. We are endangering the lives of our people. Even rail slippers are being stolen. One of these days, we are going to have a very bad accident on our railway system because of this. Women in the rural areas cannot put their sufurias and drums outside overnight in order to draw rainwater. When they leave them there overnight and come in the morning, they are gone and we understand they are taken to scrap metal dealers. I am told there are some hotels where if you finish eating your food, you have to return the plates and spoons. People are even stealing spoons and plates. We need to do something about the scrap metal industry. I think some unscrupulous people have entered this profession because we had it all this time and these things were not happening. It is so sad that we are actually going backwards after the Government has done so much. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I must also commend the Minister for zero-rating tax on motor cycles and bicycles but we need to go a further step. I think we need to start putting up our own assembly plants for motor cycles. Everywhere you go, you find it is the new mode of transport. We need to say that the assemblers should be the ones who should be given this zero- rating tax on motor cycles so that we can encourage the assembly of motor cycles and bicycles. Sometimes I do not know what is wrong with us Africans. Surely, can we not even manufacture a bicycle in this country? There is no industry which can come up with a bicycle manufacturing plant. Do we have to import bicycles from China? At least, we can start with assembly and then go on to manufacture them but I think the Ministry must take certain specific decisions that will encourage the manufacture of bicycles. If we do not do that, then we are doing a disservice to our people and yet we are saying that we want to create jobs for our youth. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must also do something about our local authorities. Local authorities are not employment bureaus. Their main purpose is to give service to mwananchi. The Government is supporting local authorities with funds from the Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF) and, therefore, we must now tell them that they must provide services to the residents. They must be transparent and accountable. They should allow wananchi to verify the services that they give. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, coming to tax on airtime, a mobile phone is not a luxury any more. Since telephone wires have been stolen, we do not have land lines and so everybody is using mobile phones. I would request the Minister to reduce tax on airtime even further because majority of the people depend on them. Students and poor common mwananchi are the ones who use them, which means we should also do something about this. The Ministry should also do something about one company which is only benefiting the rich. If you buy airtime worth Kshs1,000, you are charged Kshs3. A poor mwananchi who can only afford Kshs20 is charged Kshs8. Surely, this is not fair. This is discrimination against the poor. The tariffs should be the same for the poor and the rich. We should not have one tariff for the poor and one for the rich. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, although the Minister has zero-rated tax on some foodstuffs, these benefits are not going to the mwananchi. Food prices are high and completely out of reach of the poor. The English say that a hungry man is an angry man. If we have a class of people who cannot have three meals in a day and do not even know what they are going to eat in the evening, then we are sitting on a time bomb. Those hungry masses are going to rise against those people who have food on their table. We must do something about this. Some time back, food prices went up because we chased away some poor fellows in the clash-torn areas. Those were the people who were producing that food. They were the people who were hiring the wheat farms and the maize farms. When they were chased away, there was 3360 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 11, 2008 nobody to hire those farms. Therefore, the prices of those commodities went up. I hope that now that the rains have come, and a few Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have gone back to their places, production of those commodities will increase. That will lead to the reduction of the prices of foodstuffs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry must also take specific action to encourage people to open bank accounts. Imagine, out of a population of about 38 million Kenyans, only 3.5 per cent operate bank accounts. We should make it compulsory for everybody to have a bank account in order to encourage savings. That will encourage some of them to take loans from the banks. If you do not have a bank account, you cannot get a loan from any bank. So, again, that is discrimination against the poor. They do not have money. So, they cannot open bank accounts. Therefore, we must pass a specific law to say that it is the obligation of a bank to open an account. One should not be asked for a deposit, referee or a recommendation by other person who has a bank account. Opening of bank accounts should be automatic. That way, we shall encourage saving. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, some two years ago, this House passed a law barring retirees from accessing their money until they reach the age of 55 years. Every time we go out there, we are told that we must reverse that law. People want their money when they retire. What is the point of somebody keeping your money until you are 55 years old, when you cannot pay school fees for your children or afford food on the table? Today, retirement is a death sentence. Nobody lives for more than three years after retirement. That is because they cannot access their funds. The situation is even worse for retirees of certain local authorities, which do not remit members' contributions to the Pension Fund. So, when such employees retire, it is actually a death sentence. We are sentencing people to die. We want people to enjoy once they retire, and not to die so early. So, we need to do something to enable people to access their money. I am also glad that the Minister has assisted Kenya Airways. Kenya Airways is our national airline, and we must support it. It is very difficult for a mzungu to use any other airline apart from British Airways. But what do Africans do? They also want to travel with British Airways. They do not want to travel using Kenya Airways. That is our airline. We must support it. If the mzungu can only use their airline, why can we not use our airline? There should be a special law to provide that Kenya Airways should be the airline of choice for Kenyans, unless the national carrier does not offer service on that sector. That way, we should be able to succeed. We have a United States of America (USA) President-elect who has his roots in this country. We must take advantage of that development and make Kogelo a tourist attraction, so that all the Americans can go there and see where the father of their President comes from. We must take that advantage. It is also good to inform our people appropriately. When I was in Kisumu the other day, I was told that since the USA President-elect traces his roots to Kogelo, Kenyans no longer require a visa or passport to go to the USA. We must tell our people that, that is not the true position. They still require a visa and a passport. My main message has been that we should not discriminate against the poor. We are zero- rating tax on manufactured goods, but we have forgotten to encourage bull-fighting. We must also give it a zero-rating of some sort, so that we can encourage the sport to become a tourist attraction. I could go on, but I can see that other hon. Members want to contribute. Therefore, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}