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"speaker_name": "Mr. Sungu",
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"legal_name": "Gor Eric Sungu",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. The issue at stake here is the realisation of securities. Power is being given to the Commissioner here to assume that there is a mortgage on somebody's property and sell it. The time limit given is so short, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that this property will be sold at the right price. I beg this House to look at this provision very carefully. It is going to hurt us, because we are giving somebody power, which he can misuse to hurt us. It is absolutely dangerous to allow somebody to sell your property without proper guidelines as to how the correct price will be decided. We know that this will be an avenue for corruption, and this House should stop its approval. There is a proposal to amend Section 13 of the National Social Security Fund Act, Cap.258, by inserting the following new sub-section immediately after sub-section 3- \"---the amount of the special contribution payable under Subsection (3) shall be declared as surplus benefits when actuarial valuation of the Fund is carried out and shall be used to augment voluntary individual accounts\". September 18, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3993 I only want to caution about double taxation. Often, all the benefits that come with retirement are already deducted from an employee's salary. Therefore, if there is any possibility that the Minister may actually double-tax somebody, that should not be acceptable to this House. Again, as I said, we will be looking at it at the Committee Stage. The issue of capital markets, and the creation of a board, has been looked at. We have said that we want to look at the principal law to be able to avoid amending many Acts without going into the specifics. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you and I come from a background of insurance, and I will not sit down without commenting on a proposal to amend the Insurance Act, at page 1868, which states as follows:- \"THAT, Section 41 of the Insurance Act be amended by deleting sub-section (1) and instituting therefor the following sub-section- \"an insurer carrying on in Kenya long-term insurance business, but not general insurance business, shall keep at all times total administered assets of not less than his total administered liabilities and Kshs10 million or five per centum of the total administered assets, whichever is higher\". I think this is a reasonable proposal, because we know, for certain, many companies, among them Access Insurance Company, United Insurance Company, among others, which have gone under with policy holders' money, and those policy holders had no recourse whatsoever for getting back their money. Therefore, maintaining such a gap is excellent. When the Minister does something right, we should commend him. Particularly, if he is listening, he should know that he is being commended. Clause 63 proposes that Section 156 of the Insurance Act be amended by deleting sub- section (2) and substituting therefor the following new sub-section:- (2) where an insurer substitutes his place with a broker, the broker shall remit the amount of premiums to the insurer on the same day he receives it from the policy holder, and the insurer shall assume risk upon receipt of the premium\". Whereas we know that the intention of introducing this clause is reasonable, the applicability of it is in doubt. This House should not make a law which is going to be impossible for Kenyans to observe. It is practically impossible for a broker, or an agent, to receive money on a day and remit it to the insurance company on the same day. We have been in this business. I have been an insurance broker. I know the business inside out. Therefore, I would advise the Minister that we should not make a law which is going to be flouted the following day, because we shall make Parliament look ridiculous. Let us make a law which can be observed by the people. Let us be reasonable. Let us give insurance brokers a specific limit rather than the same day, because it will never work. We know that for sure. I hope that when we go to the Committee Stage, the Minister will not oppose my amendment. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, being cognisant of your very good heart and allowing me to say a few things that may have been said by others but in different words, I now say that I do not want to add more words. I support the Motion and the amendments which we propose to make."
}