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{
    "id": 194641,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/194641/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 84,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Okemo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 198,
        "legal_name": "Chrysanthus Barnabas Okemo",
        "slug": "chrysanthus-okemo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I had the opportunity to consult the Minister for Finance, and I am glad that he has included in his remarks that this is a very weighty Bill. Therefore, it requires the full involvement of the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade. I have agreed with him that our Committee will have the chance to scrutinise the Bill. We will invite him to the Committee and consult together to see whether there are any areas that require amendments. Mr. Speaker, Sir, having said that, I just want to make very brief remarks. One is that an anti-money laundering Bill is long overdue. It is a Bill that is necessary, because it is a piece of legislation that has been missing for dealing with that specific aspect of economic crimes. We know that money laundering takes place in this country. The unfortunate thing is that most of the players in this kind of activity are usually the big boys, or the big fish. Therefore, we want to make sure that the law is so tight that it can define clearly what money laundering is and how it can be traced and dealt with. My fear is that we should not open another avenue for corruption. In the process of tracing money launderers we should not actually create another group of corrupt people, who will use that avenue to harass people simply because they suspect that someone is involved in money laundering. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other concern that I would like to bring to the attention of the House is my worry that a lot of legislation somehow along the line is not home-grown. From experience, when I was in the Ministry before, some laws sometimes form part of the conditionalities by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to give us financial support. In a way that is a form of blackmail. I believe that we should not accept that. We should pass this law because it is good for Kenya, and not because it is a condition for us to get money from these financial institutions!"
}