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"id": 180346,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wambugu",
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"legal_name": "Clement Muchiri Wambugu",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me a chance to contribute to this Bill. I want to congratulate the Minister for bringing this Bill to the House for discussion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I support the Bill, there are a few issues I would like to comment on. I congratulate the Minister for the recent move he took when the whole country was in problem because of the high prices of fuel. He intervened and brought the taxes down. We are now enjoying reduced prices of diesel which is going for Kshs86 per litre. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe that the Finance Bill has been brought to this House so that we can be able to finance the Budget that was presented before this House earlier this year. However, there are a few issues that have not been taken care of for a long time. Even though the Commissioner-General of Income Tax has done a lot, through collection of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and other taxes, the issue of VAT still remains. Very many traders still try to evade paying VAT, especially those operating within Industrial Area. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we believe this is happening because some of the officials at the Ministry are still in the old system of corruption. They are the ones supporting some of those people not to pay their taxes. We would want to see that issue handled in a better way. You could go to Industrial Area to buy something but you are told straight to your face that if you are looking for a receipt, you cannot get it because of VAT. This forces you to go to another place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue which has not been taken care of is payment of fines. I know that any time before you are asked to pay a fine, you are taken to court. However, the process of going through the court system is a bit tedious in this country. The Minister should try to see if he could introduce instant fines, especially for traffic offences. If a driver is stopped by traffic officers because of over-speeding, there is no need of interrupting his journey. For example, if you are travelling from Nyeri and your trip is disrupted by traffic officers, then you are taken to Thika for two days just to go and pay a fine of Kshs2,000. It is better you are told that in case you are found over-speeding you will be charged an average of Kshs100 per kilometre or Kshs200. This would make work easier and even decongest our courts. We also have fines that are imposed at the weighbridges when your vehicle is found to be overloaded. There is congestion when people are trying to negotiate. That is a critical thing in that area. It is good if people are told that if you exceed your weighbridge limit, then you pay a fine of about Kshs500. The same should apply in most courts that handle drunken cases. People who are caught at night because of drunkenness; there is no need of waiting until you get to court the following morning when you are already sober. It is good to have a court that runs 24-hours. When a person is found drunk, let him be fined at that time, rather than waiting until the next morning. In that way, November 11, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3363 the Government can raise more money. The Minister came up with the issue of removing taxes from communication equipment. That will help poor people acquire communication equipment like mobile phones. We would also like the Minister to look into the issue of phone charges that we are experiencing, because we might be having the equipment but we are unable to make phone calls. Regarding the issue of retirement benefits that was mentioned by somebody in this House, recently we had an issue of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) channelling our funds into the wrong areas like companies that are going down. It is sad when we hear that we are not allowed to withdraw our money from the NSSF before we attain the age of 55 years. That money is also misused by other people to invest in companies that are going down. The zero-rating of tax on motor cycles is very welcome. There is something in the Bill which I think I should talk about. The minimum capital for banks, which is an amendment, is being raised from a minimum of Kshs250 million to Kshs1 billion by 2010. This is another way of getting our people to where they were a few years ago. That is restraining our young entrepreneurs from the universities from entering into the finance market. I feel that, that is a move by foreign banks in this country to sabotage the growth of our economy. That part of the Bill should be looked into; that clause should be removed. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}