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"speaker_name": "Mr. Muite",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are three issues I would like to contribute on when talking about the Budget Speech. The first issue I would like to touch on relates to the retirement benefits and I want the Minister for Finance to listen very carefully. There is an injustice here that is being perpetrated. Who is perpetrating the injustice and against whom is it being perpetrated? The retirement benefit is money contributed by workers in the middle-class for purposes of pension. Remember that we have got banks, multinationals and the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) telling the Kenyan workers, who are contributing this money, that if they are retrenched or they resign from employment before they reach the age of 55, then they cannot access their money. The excuse given is that you must wait until you are 55 years old because if you get this money earlier, say, when you are 40 years old, then you will misuse it and live in poverty. That is not the real truth. The real truth is not the fear that these people are going to misuse the money. The real objective is that the insurance companies, the multinationals, banks and employers want to continue to posses that money so that they can use it and make profit out of it for as long as possible. That money is only benefiting the employers, multinationals and insurance companies. It is just an excuse that people should not access their money until they are 55 years old. I find that to be paternalistic. Whether you are 30 years old or 40 years old it is still your money. In fact, it is at that age that you need to educate your children. In any case, even if you misuse the money, is it not your money? How can somebody else tell you what to do with your money? So, I want to appeal to the Minister not to decide in favour of the golfing buddies who are the directors of the insurance companies and multinationals. Let him think about the ordinary Kenyans and make decisions that will benefit the majority of Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that rule needs to be repealed immediately so that where a worker is retrenched, resigns or retires before attaining the age of 55 years, he has an option of accessing his money. Let us not have this injustice being perpetrated against the worker through the collusion and connivance of the Government merely because they want to please the directors and chairpersons of these insurance companies and multinationals in order to give them possession of workers' money. We know that they need the money to make profit out of it for the longest period possible. I hope that the Minister will take into account these sentiments which are from the majority of workers and repeal that rule immediately. The second point that I would like to talk about is that a Budget has to be set in the wider context of some defined economic policies. It is not just about the collection of money and its expenditure. It should be part and parcel of a wider economic policy. What one sees clearly is that the Government has become very efficient in the collection of tax and should be recommended for that. To an extent, the Government has also been efficient in the expenditure of tax, particularly through the CDF. I agree with the Member for Bahari Constituency that once in a while one hears the Government claiming credit for introducing CDF. On the contrary, the credit for the introduction of the CDF should go to Members of Parliament because it was their initiative and not the Government's. The collection is good and to some extent, the expenditure is good too, but one does not see the policies that will nurture economic growth. If you want your cow to increase the production of milk from 15 kilogrammes to 25 kilogrammes, you must feed it. In this case, we are over-milking the cow without feeding it properly. One would like to see policies that would June 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1655 encourage economic growth being put in place. The Government is overtaxing its citizens without putting in place corresponding policies to nurture economic growth, particularly in the small and medium-scale industries which are the biggest employers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at developed economies, you will find that the engine for economic growth are the small and medium-scale businesses and not the big businesses. So, one would like to see policies that are friendly to the small and medium-scale businesses being put in place so that they can produce more. Look at the hawkers, for example. Look at how efficient this Government is when it comes to driving the hawkers out of the streets. Look at how efficient, ruthless and decisive the Government is when it comes to kicking what they call \"squatters\" out of the forests. However, when it comes to repossessing the land that was grabbed, and I do not want to breach the Standing Orders by mixing Kiswahili and English, Serikali hii inaanza kuregarega ."
}