Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 245046,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/245046/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 176,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Khamasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 300,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Lyula Khamasi",
        "slug": "daniel-khamasi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Sir, for giving me the chance to contribute to this Motion. I fear that we may be flouting our own rules by repeating the materials which have been used here. But I think you have been very kind to us so that we can tell the Minister the seriousness of some of the matters which have been included in his taxation proposals. Mr. Chairman, Sir, the question of Sugar Development Levy being shifted from the consumer to the farmer is a serious matter. In fact, I was told once that accountants are people who do not have any feelings. They just look at figures. This is a very typical example. I cannot understand how the Minister, having known the history of sugar-cane growing in western Kenya, would ever do this sort of thing. This is a clear manifestation that he wants to kill that industry. This has been an ailing industry. You know this matter has been in this House for a very long time. Sugar-cane farmers have been complaining wanting their cane prices to be increased because they are literally earning too little out of it. But look at what the Minister has done! I would only urge him to listen to the people of Kenya, particularly people from western Kenya. What you have done is not fair. Why select only sugar-cane farmers? It is better the Minister consults the people, and the people he can consult are here in this House, the representatives of the sugar-cane farmers. It is important that the Minister moves with speed to remove the levy. This being an election year, I would have thought that you would be very friendly particularly to the farmers who go out to vote. Mr. Chairman, Sir, I want to talk about the waiver of road licences. I do not want to agree with my friends here. People who have vehicles have no problem paying road licences. If the Department had a problem in getting the money from the owners of the vehicles, that is an administrative matter which would have been dealt with at that level. People who have cars are capable of paying road licences. So, pretending that you are removing this requirement and saying that you now want to replace that income by increasing the price of petroleum products by Kshs3.20 was just too much. If you wanted to increase the price of petroleum products, perhaps you should have done so by Kshs1.50 at most. That would have made sense. But Kshs3.20 is just too much. It is hurting everybody. It is impacting negatively on everybody. This is a matter that you need to consider. July 4, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1789 Mr. Chairman, Sir, I would also like to draw the attention of the Minister to the exercise of zero-rating of VAT on foodstuffs. When you do that, who benefits? Is that poor consumer in the village benefiting? Sometime last year, when a Budget was being presented here, the same proposals were made and I did not see any reduction in the price of LPG or petroleum products. The Minister this time round had repeated the same thing, saying he is zero-rating foodstuff and hope that the consumers will benefit from it. There must be a mechanism in place where, if the Minister is taking this measure, at least the people selling should be put to task to make sure the consumers benefit. Mr. Chairman, Sir, I want to quickly talk about the question of insurance where the Minister said that the insurers who want to buy motor vehicle insurance and fire insurance must make sure that the brokers remit the premiums on the same day. I argued here during our debate that it was not possible. What the Minister is literally saying is that the people who are seeking motor insurance or fire insurance should pay directly to underwriters and get the cover they want. This will actually hurt the brokers. I thought there was a law in place where a broker who does not remit the premiums in time is penalized. I think that issue should be left at that. There is no point for the Minister trying to force a measure like that onto the insuring public or the brokers, who are actually handling volumes of money---"
}