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{
"id": 237474,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/237474/?format=api",
"text_counter": 191,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Tarus",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 315,
"legal_name": "Stephen Kipkiyeny Tarus",
"slug": "stephen-tarus"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this chance to contribute to the Finance Bill. While supporting this Bill, I would, first of all, like to thank the Minister for Finance for doing a October 31, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3265 commendable job, particularly in turning around the economy. It is very encouraging that, today, Kenya can rely on its resources for both Development and Recurrent Expenditure. For a long time, Kenya had got used to relying on foreign aid. We have increased and improved the collection of revenue. It is now possible for Kenyans to gain esteem again. We can be proud of the revenue collected. We must also be proud of the fact that, Kenya does not rely on borrowing. The improved economic growth and revenue collection is, indeed, very useful. But we still have a lot of work to do, particularly with regard to employment creation. I say so because many of our people get a lot of hope when we tell them that the economy has improved. However, one of our greatest challenges is to make that improvement noticeable among the population. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue has to do with poverty alleviation. As a country, we need to work very hard to make sure that the economic growth is translated into better lives among the people of Kenya. I want to commend the Minister for the proposals he made regarding the lowest cadres of society. When you ask yourself who the poor people are in Kenya, you will realise that, clearly, the majority of them constitute the women, the youth and people, the majority of whom do not have land and cannot access credit facilities. The Finance Minister's proposals or allocation of resources to target investment among the youth and women is an important aspect in the management of our economy. The youth are our greatest resource. If only we can build on this perspective, we would be mobilising our resources very well. The allocation of this fund, if properly managed, will help in eliminating inequalities. There will be investment among the youth, particularly if we do not ask them for securities when we are lending them money from the fund. While we are thinking about how to disburse this fund, I hope we will go down to the location level and develop frameworks for training of young people, particularly those that have to do with business ventures and micro-finance business for the purpose of seeing real productivity, so that come the next financial year, we can say that the Kshs1 billion that was invested in the youth fund has multiplied, maybe, to Kshs4 billion. That will encourage support by taxpayers for investment in that area. The other proposal I would like to applaud the Minister for is the one on solar equipment. We have solar energy in abundance and we know that electricity generation is not adequate. We have a gap to fill. However, we have abandoned energy from solar. Therefore, the Minister's decision to remove duty on solar equipment will allow exploitation of one of the greatest resources that this country enjoys. There are areas where it has not been possible to expand electrification, mainly because of distance or the nature of the terrain in those areas, yet we have schools, health centres and homes which want to utilise the benefit of that energy. That is very important, and I hope that the Ministry of Energy will sensitise the country on how to utilise that source of energy. This is important, particularly for the poor people and low income earners because the expenses on this investment are not as much as those for electrification. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to thank the Minister for zero-rating agricultural equipment and unprocessed products, because that goes ahead in providing profitability in the agricultural sector. Ever since the Government targeted investment in the agricultural sector by providing credit through the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) and the removal of duty on agricultural products, farmers are now investing heavily in the agricultural sector. This is an area which will provide the greatest opportunity for employment to our young people. The Minister is lauded for this. It is also encouraging that we have also zero-rated fishing equipment. When you look at all these proposals, they are going to assist the common man. For a long time, the fishing industry, despite its great potential, had not improved. I, therefore, hope that the zero-rating of fishing equipment will attract investment in this particular field for purposes of increasing quality and quantity of products. Kenya is a wonderful country; a wonderful economy. If all these areas were able to function without any interruption, they would generate a lot of employment opportunities and foreign 3266 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 31, 2006 exchange for our country. We need all these sectors to function for us to move towards full employment. In this country, we are yet to utilise our resources fully. Kenya is said to enjoy one of the highest investment in skilled manpower in the region. You go to every country in Africa and you do not fail to get a Kenyan working there. But we need this manpower utilised locally. Therefore, we need to put in policies that will allow investment in our manpower to stay home and avoid unnecessary brain drain. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to talk about the issue of the Sugar Development Levy. This has been the most controversial issue, given the fact that the sugar sector contributes immensely to our economy. I am encouraged that the Minister for Finance is opening up consultation for purposes of abolishing this particular tax. I am sure this will help the farmers by reducing the cost of sugar production. I also hope we will look into other ways of modernising technology for sugar production. I think the main problem that we have in this country has to do with lack of equipment, technology and management. Therefore, we find sugar production in the region being expensive and punitive to our farmers. So, I also hope that while we do this review by the Government to ameliorate the farmers from the costs through tax, we also invest in modernisation. This has shown that in the last few years, since the Government moved in to streamline the management in sugar factories, those taxes are now making profits and they can make even more profits. Therefore, we need to continue on the path of improvement of this sector because we really need every sector to function, and I am sure with improved management of the sugar sector, the much needed revenue will be obtainable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also know that the Minister has thought of reducing the amount required to be deposited with the Central Bank of Kenya by insurance brokers. My worry initially was that we were going to reduce those participants to a few and, therefore, create a near cartel type. So, this is also going to open avenues for Kenyans, and as an hon. Member said, we still need to look at this amount that has been reduced; whether it is still not excluding participation of other participants in this particular sector. It is also encouraging that the Minister has reviewed where the money is going to be deposited, instead of the Central Bank, to the commercial banks because in the CBK, as earlier said, it was just going to hold this money and that was not going to be fair to the participants in this particular industry. The other issue that is encouraging is the thought also of zero-rating equipment for the Jua"
}