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{
    "id": 258061,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/258061/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 336,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Transport",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "the Finance Bill and the Bill by hon. Ogindo on Interest Rates and other Bills that we would have preferred to deal with. However, I am also aware that the matters that have been raised have raised a lot of issues that need to be addressed best within the frameworks of the Committees. I am aware of this, after talking to the Members, in my capacity as the Deputy Leader of Government Business. Members have asked whether they can take some time to consult in small groups with the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade and the Budget Committee and with other stakeholders so that they can understand the intricacies of interest rates, how they affect us and how the exchange rates affect us. Can we get the output from the Ababu Namwamba Committee on the Cost of Living and from the Keynan Committee on the Exchange Rate so that we can use all these things to come up with a comprehensive solution on the issue of interest rates that is affecting all of us and businesses? A quick fix through one single amendment will not save the situation. But, a comprehensive approach to this matter will help us now and in the future so that we have a balance between the economy and the people who are affected by the interest rates on a sustainable basis. These consultations will require some time of the House so that the Committees can take their retreats and look at these matters. We can then sort out the matter and by the time we come back, we address the Finance Bill from new lenses and a new look and discuss it within the new framework of extended consultations. I am aware that perhaps, there may be some feelings that the Finance Bills expires. I do not know who has given the impression that the Finance Bills expire on 31st December. We moved away, when we changed our Standing Orders from a time when Bills used to expire at the end of a session. All Bills that are still on the Order Paper will continue until we pass them. The only thing that happens with the Finance Bill is that the House passed the Provisional Collection Order (PCO) that gave the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance power to collect taxes up to 31st December or up to when the Finance Bill is passed. So, what happens, obviously, is that between 31st December, 2011and the time we come back to pass the Finance Bill, we will need to look for another instrument which is also provided for within the law because the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance has power to levy any taxes up to 30 per cent and then seek the concurrence of the House. So, there are instruments; the House, in its wisdom, in the past, has provided for these things and we need not to worry."
}