Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 180354,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/180354/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "strength of the Kenya Shilling. This is a matter that the Ministry and the Central Bank of Kenya need to take very seriously, because the weakening of Kenya Shilling will make our exports cheap. But Kenya, at the end of the day, is a net importer; so, as a country, we lose more when the Kenya Shilling is weaker as opposed to the gains that we realise from exports. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said about the free market economy but we realise that even the countries that pushed privatization to Kenya are going the opposite direction. The key agenda of President-elect Obama was to nationalise and control the financial market but they told us that we should free it. Certainly, we will pay the consequences of a totally freed market economy. I agree with the hon. Members who contributed earlier that there is need for us to rethink it all over again and see how the Government can intervene so that we have a functioning economy, especially with regard to the cost of energy in this country. We cannot develop if the cost of energy is continuously rising. I know something has been done but it is still not enough. For us to be competitive and attract investments, we really need to work on the cost of energy in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wanted to mention something about the enforcement of regulations and the legal framework by the Government. You realise that there are certain laws in this country that are not adhered to, especially by parastatals. I do not want to pre-empt the work of the Public Investments Committee (PIC), of which I am member, but I just want to mention something about the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). The law is very clear that they are supposed to obey the Retirement Benefits Authority Act but they have not. They are flouting it with impunity. They do not care and yet this is an institution that handles a lot of money. So, the Ministry needs to look at a way of regulating the financial sector in totality. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to mention something about the brokerage firms and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). Much as the Ministry is proposing a lot of changes and reforms, the CMA is not even using to the full the legal provisions that they have and the machinery that is at their disposal at the moment. Sometimes you find conflict of interests and I want to mention the case of Discount Securities Limited. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the CMA has appointed managers to manage it but they are the same ones who were, the other day, auditing NSSF and could not highlight the shady dealings between Discount Securities Limited and NSSF. They have now been appointed to manage Discount Securities Limited. If you look at it, you will see a lot of carelessness. The CMA is not doing its work. The Ministry must rein on some of these institutions even the ones which are given powers to regulate our financial systems. This has a lot to do with enforcing the laws that are there. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also wanted to talk about Kenya Airways. Kenya Airways is a commercial organization that is running for profit. We can zero-rate tax on international air travel but do the business practices that are carried out by the Kenya Airways follow prudent management?"
}