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{
    "id": 194652,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/194652/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 95,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bishop Wanjiru",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Housing",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 372,
        "legal_name": "Margaret Wanjiru Kariuki",
        "slug": "margaret-wanjiru"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to comment on the Bill and say that it is a good idea, but is badly drafted. We need such a law in place, but the way it is right now does not even limit itself to its own jurisdiction. It has a little bit of here and there, and a lot of duplication of other laws of the land. That will bring a lot of confusion and contravene other laws which we are already using. If we were to go the foreign currency way, the way the Bill is, we would create a lot of bottlenecks. Those many bottlenecks within our system are the same ones that provide loopholes for corruption. I remember a few years back, we used to have ceiling on amounts of foreign currency. So, even if you had to pay school fees for your children abroad, you had to go for an approval and, sometimes, somebody had to demand a bribe to put a signature on your document. We need to be careful not to make a reverse to where we have come from. We are saying that we need the law, but with amendments. I agree with my colleagues who said that it needs to be taken to the Committees and be checked thoroughly well for a major improvement. We should also request that more stakeholders be involved in it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as you go through the Bill, you will find that apart from contradicting some of the other laws, we are also duplicating the Criminal Procedure Code, the Economic Crimes Act, 2003 and the Banking Act. We are saying that this Bill is not home- grown, because what we have borrowed from others and a little bit of our own do not really give us new ideas. We need a totally new law that can limit itself to its jurisdiction in relation to this particular subject. So, I join my colleagues by saying that let it go to the Committees. The way it is, as one hon. Member said, in the absence of the Terrorism Bill, it could even be used to terrorise a few people or harass them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill also infringes on property rights. You find that even if someone gives you a gift which is not of big value, somebody can simply say that you committed an offence by giving it out or by receiving it. There are a lot of loose ends in this Bill. We do not want to do what we did with the proposed Constitution drafts. We kept on changing them again and again, because we had left a lot of loose technical ends. I recommend that this Bill goes to the Committees and many changes need to be made. Thank you."
}