HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 245442,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/245442/?format=api",
"text_counter": 114,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. J. Nyagah",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 269,
"legal_name": "Joseph Nthiga Nyagah",
"slug": "joseph-nyagah"
},
"content": "Thank you for protecting me, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. It is quite clear that we need to give incentives to Kenyans who live abroad. When you travel overseas, Kenyans abroad will always tell you that they are not getting enough incentives. In many countries such as India, the development that is taking place there has to do with resources June 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1649 and expertise that their locals who live overseas are taking to their country. I would have liked to see the Minister introduce tax incentives that will make Kenyans bring in more funds to this country. The biggest investor in Kenya for a long time will be Kenyans both locally and Kenyans living abroad. So, could the Minister consider the possibility of introducing tax incentives similar to what India and other countries have done so that more funds can come in from overseas? With the number of Kenyans living abroad, earning salaries and with various investments, it is important that we should encourage them. The Minister should not only give incentives, we need an office whose responsibility will be wholly to look after the interests of Kenyans abroad. I know this suggestion has been made. However, it is important that the Kenyan Government, given the importance of that Ministry, that we also create a department, like some countries have done, that will look after the interests of Kenyans abroad so that they can bring more resources to Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would have liked the Minister to tell us how he intends to deal with companies like Western Union, which are exploiting Kenyans. Kenyans send money from overseas and for every US$100 they send to their people, Kenyans are paying US$25. It is important that the Minister sits down with Western Union and negotiates with them, like other countries have done, so that out of the US$100, mothers and uncles of Kenyans receive more than they are receiving. That has been done by other countries. It is the responsibility of the Minister for Finance to do what other Ministers in Philippines, India and Sri Lanka have done so as to ensure more resources arrive in our country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is a pity that we are passing on the sugar levy to the farmers. Farmers are over-taxed. They suffer very much. I would have liked to see sugar-cane farmers in Western Kenya given incentives, not discouragement. Taxing a farmer is unfair. This is an agricultural country and we must give incentives to farmers. At this point we should not be discouraging sugar-cane farmers, we should be encouraging them. As one of the earlier speakers said, our sugar will not compete with imported sugar. Worldwide, sugar is used in an election year to finance general elections. This could, therefore, not be an accident that this is happening a year before the general elections. It may be a deliberate move to ensure that revenue from sugar will be used to finance the general elections. This has happened in the past. It has also happened in many countries. I hope hon. Members from those areas will lobby very aggressively to have that levy removed from sugarcane farmers. Otherwise, it may cost them their seats in the next general elections. The farmers will be angry and the money raised from that levy might be used to remove them from Parliament. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I come from an Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) district. I am disappointed by the amount of money that has been allocated to ASAL districts. I would have liked to see a lot of money allocated for water projects in the 22 ASAL districts. The amount that has been allocated for water is so little. It is like petty cash! Our people will continue to walk long distances in search of water. If there was no CDF, I do not know what our constituents would have done. We should stop being a talking-shop and allocate more resources to the ASAL districts, particularly for water projects. Once we have water in our areas, we will be okay. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is a feeling that the drought is over and the Government has stopped giving us relief food. They think that there is no drought because the rains came for a few weeks. It is true that in some areas, the food situation has improved. However, we still need more relief food because our people are going hungry. I know that food has been given to Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) to distribute to the needy. The Minister of State for Special Programmes should ensure that the districts are allocated more money and relief food. We should not assume that because the rains have come, we are okay. We are far from being okay! We need relief food. Our people are dying and we must assist them. We should not leave it to the 1650 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 28, 2006 NGOs to feed our people. The NGOs are simply feeding a few people per village. We need a lot of relief food for our people. Finally, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about security tenders. We know how we have gone through this before. I was disappointed when I realized that the Anglo Leasing debts are not included in the list of external debts. They exist and they must be addressed. They should be re-negotiated. We should not assume that they do not exist. We are going to be caught up with our embassies being auctioned in The Hague, London, France and in other countries. We have no choice but to re-negotiate and address the issues of Anglo Leasing type deals. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}