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"id": 216542,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kipchumba",
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"legal_name": "Joseph Kipchumba Lagat",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir. I also want to give my comments on the taxation proposals. June 28, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2139 Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, I want to give my comment first on this IDF. This IDF reduction is really negligible; 2.75 to 2.25 is a very small figure. I wish the Minister, with the spirit he talked about, that he wants Kenyans to afford imported goods, he should just waive it completely. He should remove it all together. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, I want to applaud the Minister for removing duty on medical equipment. I think that is very encouraging. Many of our private hospitals have had a lot of problems importing medical equipment, which is very urgently required in our hospitals. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, while the Minister has given a duty exemption on hides and skins, in the same spirit, he should have done the same on wool. You are aware that many of our businessmen who have wanted to deal in wool for a very long time have been complaining. In the same spirit that we wanted to encourage value addition to hides and skins, I think the Minister should in future, or probably with certain amendments, ensure that wool is included in the exemption on hides and skins, because, after all, they play the same role. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, while I would ideally have no problem on taxation of bottled mineral water, it would be ideal that the Ministry of Water and Irrigation should have at this stage been issuing statements to all Kenyans that they can drink water from any tap in this country. In my big town of Eldoret, if you are there, do not bother to buy bottled water, because the water there is very clean. But we are afraid that there are certain parts of this country, where, if you drink water from taps, you might be taken straight to hospital. So, in the same spirit, we would want that specific Ministry, and the Kenya Bureau of Standards, to assure Kenyans. People drink bottled water, not because it is a luxury, but out of necessity. We have not been given assurance by Government that, indeed, all the water that runs in our taps, including in Nairobi, is quite safe. If today the Ministry concerned issues a statement that the water in Nairobi is quite safe, so that if something happens to you arising from your drinking of the same, then you can sue the respective department, then we can tax water to whatever level you can think of. But as long as we have not reached that level, it would be unwise for us to imagine that water is a luxury and, therefore, we can now tax it at will. I think that is something that the Minister must look at. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, on the issue of plastic bags, while we want to protect the environment, I do not imagine that very big plastic bags are a problem to anybody. I would want the Minister to consider that these big plastic bags are even used by many people as materials for carrying goods. Therefore, I would want him to tax only small plastic bags. But the big plastic bags are not a problem at all to our environment. Many of our people who cannot afford to buy bags use these plastic bags, which cost about Kshs3, to carry their loads. Therefore, I think we should be very specific that plastic bags that are of concern in this country are the small ones that are used and disposed of immediately. When you go to a Uchumi or Nakumatt Supermarket they will pack for you all your goods in a very nice plastic bag. In fact, you may not know that some of them are plastic bags, because they are well decorated. Therefore, I would want us to amend the taxation proposal to deal with only the size. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, on the issue of spare parts, somebody has said that it is an issue all over East Africa. If you go to western Kenya, many of our tractors and vehicles, especially those that do not go to town, use only second hand spare parts. I do not think they cause any problem on our roads. I think it is dishonest to say that old spare parts are unsafe on our roads. The problem of accidents on our roads is not as a result of spare parts. Accidents are as a result of other factors beyond spare parts. Therefore, I want the Minister to amend that. We need those spare parts. They are very useful to us. After all, many Wazungus use those spare parts for only two years on very good roads. They rarely drive their vehicles. So, when they sell them to us, we can use them for three years. I do not think that is of concern to anybody. The price is very pocket friendly. I do not know what motive the Minister had on that issue. He should explain that to us further. 2140 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 28, 2007 Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, the Minister must be very specific on the issue of powdered milk. The powdered milk we are talking about should be the local one. If we will zero- rate imported powdered milk, then the cost of importing powdered milk will be cheaper. That will cause a problem to us because we produce milk locally. The Minister must be very specific. He must tell us that the zero-rating only applies to the powdered milk that is produced locally. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, I want to laud the Minister on the issue of pyrethrum. People who require pyrethrin all over the world have always wondered why a country like Kenya, which produced pyrethrum for a long time, cannot sustain the market. We have never been able to sustain the market. Pyrethrum farmers have not been paid for a long time. I am grateful that, this year, the Minister has factored quite some money in the Budget for that purpose. It is quite encouraging to farmers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, on the issue of pension, especially for our senior citizens--- At one time, a delegation of old men came to my house. They were asking: \"Why is our pension being taxed a second time?\" Our pension is always a net income. To tax it again is being dishonest. If you look at the financial statement, you will realise that the amount of pension paid annually continues to go up. It grew up from Kshs19 billion in 2005, 2006 and 2007 to about Kshs23 billion this year. That situation cannot be allowed to continue. It will reach a time when this country cannot sustain paying pension to our people. I want to encourage the Minister to quickly, even before this House goes on recess, bring a Bill that will allow for contributory pension. That way, everybody can contribute towards a pension scheme and when somebody retires, his or her money will already have been invested elsewhere. I want to request the Minister to urgently re-look into that issue. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, finally, I want to talk about the issue of capital receipts. I raised that issue. If you look at the Financial Statement, there is an expectation that there will be capital receipts of Kshs44 billion to Kshs45 billion. If the Minister will be unable to sell Telkom Kenya, we will be creating another deficit of about Kshs45 billion. God knows what will happen if, at that level, you will be unable to sell that giant organisation and, therefore, create another loophole. That will be against another loophole that we are anticipating, and which we know the Minister will be unable to satisfy. I want the Minister to re-look the Financial Statement again. These figures will cause a lot of problems, if we cannot raise Kshs45 billion from the sale of Telkom Kenya. Last year, there was anticipation that the Government would sell Telkom Kenya. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}