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"id": 191951,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Maina",
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"legal_name": "Ephraim Mwangi Maina",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, my name is Ephraim Maina, the Member of Parliament for Mathira Constituency. I thank you for giving me the chance to contribute to this Motion on the tax proposals. First and foremost, I would like to commend the Minister for coming up with such a detailed document on the tax measures that he will use to raise funds for financing the Budget. There are a few issues here and there, which I would like to comment on. As we see, the tax proposals are for restoring and expanding economic opportunities. Starting off with what the former speakers have talked about, especially the airline industry, we feel encouraged because most of our people will now be able to travel at better rates. We will also be able to sell our national airline and promote growth, especially for our visitors and tourists, who normally come to this country. 1460 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 26, 2008 Regarding the issue of zero-rating of Value Added Tax on motorcycles, we feel encouraged. I would encourage or even request the Minister to even extend the same to bicycles. Also, we should not forget that motorcycles are run on petrol. So, we would like to see the Minister doing something small or something good for the energy sector, especially the petroleum sector. If he can give us a better rate, I would very much appreciate. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, reducing tax on gym equipment is a good idea. Unfortunately, the relief is going to the wrong area. When the reduction is restricted to gym equipment in the hotel industry only, it does not give any benefit in terms of economic growth to this country. We are seriously talking about creating employment for the youth or making them more active, especially through sports. I would have expected the Minister to say that the equipment to be exempted from duty would be that to be used in support of the youth's activities and that for the healthcare sector, especially hospitals. There is also the issue of the cement industry. It is actually very sad, knowing what is happening to the construction industry in this country. Our cement has become a bit expensive because of the conditions that have been put in place by our Government, especially through taxation, as well as the rising transport costs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, reducing duty on imported cement, like an hon. Member has said, will create a very dangerous situation. Most people in the construction industry will tend to go for imported cement, therefore, reducing the consumption of cement produced locally by our companies, especially the East African Portland Cement and Bamburi Cement, which have employed a lot of people. We know why the cost has gone that high. It is mainly because of the electricity that they use. Instead of the Minister reducing VAT on imported cement, he could have subsidised the cost of electricity that is used by some of those companies, so that the price of cement could come down. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, we commend the Minister for giving us zero-rates on some food products like wheat, maize flour and all the other commodities. I can say that in this country, as I said earlier, it would be good if we started looking into ways of producing our food locally rather than importing it. I still insist that Kenya is one country that is blessed with very many rivers, and very many people who are learned or are engineers. Unfortunately, they end up in other countries where they are given an opportunity to put their skills into practice. We could use our water engineers to advise the country on the best use of the rivers we have in this country and the best ways of harvesting other water resources that we have. This is way we can do irrigation of our farms and dry areas and produce a lot of food. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, to talk briefly on the financial sector, the Minister talked of strengthening the economy and the banking industry by increasing the minimum capital from Kshs250 million to Kshs1 billion. It is very sad that this country will be going in that direction, because that indicates that we are trying to lock out locals, or fellow Kenyans, from engaging in the financial industry by starting banks and other financial institutions. It looks like we are going to encourage very many foreigners to come and take over this very important industry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, on the issue of taxes imposed on various luxurious products like cigarette and beer, I would suggest that rather than all this money going into development projects and all others, we need to put a bit of it into serious campaign to advise our people on the effects of smoking. Smoking has made many people end up in hospitals, as a result of cancer and other diseases. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}