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"id": 241967,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Midiwo",
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"legal_name": "Washington Jakoyo Midiwo",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the following Motion:- THAT, in order to ensure comprehensive protection of the Kenyan consumer, this House do grant leave for the introduction of a Bill entitled The Consumer Protection Bill to establish the Consumer Protection Board that will contribute towards the improvement of consumer welfare and for matters incidental thereto and connected therewith. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even though the reasons for bringing forth this Motion are many, they are very simple. Currently there are several statutes in this country that meekly deal with issues of consumer protection. It is because of that, that I feel we need some kind of authority 2192 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 19, 2006 that will inform the issues of consumer protection and at the same time address matters that affect ordinary citizens. There are several instances that I can raise with regard to consumer protection. We understand the role played by the Weights and Measures Department. However, Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) does not have the capacity to handle all matters related to consumer protection. They are charged with the responsibility of testing products at the port of entry or point of manufacture. However, nobody protects consumers immediately these goods are traded in the market. In fact, nobody protects consumers when goods come into this country and harm our citizens without recourse. Many unscrupulous traders are making a kill by selling counterfeit goods which are harmful to the citizens of this country. Therefore, there is need to bring into being a body that will protect our people. Such a body should also have the capacity to inform our people and deter those who want to make a quick buck any time they see an opportunity to do so. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me give an example. Recently, the Minister for Finance, in his wisdom, gave a revision of how absentee landlords should be forced to pay taxes in this country. There was a recommendation by the Minister that, 30 per cent of what is paid to landlords who are outside the country be withheld by the tenants. There was a further recommendation that each tenant in this country should report to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) the amount of rent he pays to the landlord. In the market today, many tenants are threatened by unscrupulous landlords who are afraid to pay taxes. They are now threatening to load their income taxes on the tenants. Who is going to protect those tenants? It is supposed to be the Government. There must be a body to protect the tenants. We cannot have a country where, when the Government has good intentions, our own unscrupulous people, who are also citizens of this country, turn around and exploit others. That is one area where the Minister must re-think his strategies. I, personally, think that landlords must pay taxes in this country without loading that additional expense to the tenants. To them, it is an additional expense. People are supposed to pay taxes in order to get services. It has just been pointed here that some estates do not have roads. How are they going to have roads if the people themselves, who are landlords, are refusing to pay taxes? That is the only way the Government can raise enough revenue to provide the services. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue concerns fuel. The Minister, in his wisdom, thought that, since a motorist goes through an unnecessary process of trying to get a road licence, let that money be collected at the pump!\" But because of that, the matatus have increased fares by an average of Kshs50 on local routes throughout the country. Who is supposed to protect the citizens when errant people who want to make a quick buck just cash in on well-intentioned motives by the Government? It is such kind of things that prompt me to urge this Parliament to introduce a body that can assess such adverse effects of an activity, whether by the Government or otherwise. That way, even legal experts, including lawyers, could institute legal actions against bodies such as Matatu Welfare Association, which are just there to make money. Those bodies do not protect citizens! They only care about the quick bucks that they are trying to make. There is an example of how a well-intentioned Government Ministerial Statement affected people adversely and, therefore, the need for the kind of body that I am calling for, which can, at least, give our people an opportunity to live free of exploitation. This board we seek to create through this Motion will not be limited to trade issues. It will also deal with issues of the environment and health. Today, if ordinary citizens go to a hospital to seek treatment, the kind of response they get is not good. Most hospitals and other health institutions are not interested in treating people, but in making money. A couple of months ago, my sister was sick and needed an operation to remove a growth in her stomach. I paid Kshs230,000 to fly her from Kisumu to Nairobi Hospital to undergo a scan which could only be done there. She was operated on. However, the medical doctor who did the operation was called and he showed up July 19, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2193 24 hours after she died. We need to control these processes and protect consumers. In any case, we still had to pay a hefty medical bill to Nairobi Hospital. If you go to Kenyatta National Hospital now, you will find doctors out for lunch, and yet patients are waiting to be treated. They are dying in large numbers because no action is taken against those doctors. I strongly feel that we need to regulate the circumstances which, at the moment, are let loose for exploitation and nobody is speaking for our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, unless the Government takes charge of activities which involve cash - some of them are Government services - the attitude of the service providers cannot change. Unless we rein in on people who want to make quick money, we, as a country, will not go very far. If you go to a supermarket, for example, and purchase two kilogrammes of sugar, how do you know that the label on the packet showing two kilogrammes depicts the actual quantity of the sugar? At what point do Kenyans know that the two kilogrammes written on the label is not the actual quantity of the item? We need somebody to police on our behalf. We need a board to take charge of all those functions. We should not abolish the Kenya Bureau of Standards. Let them do their work, but the board will, at least, inform them that these things are happening. It will collect information on the misdeeds that are happening in our day-to-day activities. When we walk to a chemist, for example, we need to know whether that packet of medicine is genuine panadol, or some fake medicine somebody has manufactured to make quick money. We know that the Kenya Bureau of Standards has the capacity to detect that, but what does it do after that? Unless we open up this kind of litigation and monitoring, we will not help. We want to tell the unscrupulous chemists that if they sell medicine that will kill or become ineffective, there will be some consequences which will hurt them and they will have to pay dearly. The same applies to insurance companies. For example, when there is a road accident and an innocent Kenyan is killed, the insurance company will spend more money trying not to take up the liability than the amount of money which they would, otherwise, pay to the bereaved or affected families. We need to reign in on those people. We need them to know that they can be taken to court and charged. Therefore, we need to have some guidelines which can be used to charge them, and that should be known before hand. With those few remarks, I beg to move, and ask hon. Angwenyi to second this Motion."
}