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{
    "id": 290482,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/290482/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 445,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Chanzu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 11,
        "legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
        "slug": "yusuf-chanzu"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is also an amendment on the Kenya Literature Bureau Act, where the Minister seeks to extend the mandate of the bureau to enable it to serve orders from outside Kenya. This is also a good amendment because we are widening the scope of the bureau. The bureau will benefit from economies of scale due to increase in orders. It will also have to meet international standards and so on. So, we will have more people publishing through the bureau. This might help us to reduce the cost of books, which has made education very expensive in this country. Another amendment that I find commendable is the one on the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act, to allow for the publication of medical and dental practitioners in the print or electronic media. This is another commendable amendment because one will have to be approved by the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board. We have had situations where quacks were practising as medical people. Some of them inject people with water and purport that it is drugs. I think we shall be able to know who is allowed to practise as a medical or dental practitioner when we publish them. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the other one is the Kenya Red Cross Society Act, Cap.256. We know very well that the Kenya Red Cross Society has played very important roles in our society, particularly in terms of calamities. This amendment is meant to assign the Society the objectives of offering training in courses related to their activities. This is very useful because we are allowing them not just to come in on ad hoc basis, but to train and be equipped so that they are ready for the activities. This is why we talk about preparedness as a country where we have not been prepared to deal with some of the hazards and calamities. I think this is one way of empowering the Kenya Red Cross Society. The other one is provision for the recognition of the activities of the Society at the national and county level. That is in the same spirit so that they can be recognized. Through that they can also be able to source funding which can help them fund activities aimed at helping Kenyans when they are in bad situations like accidents and so on. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, my colleagues have talked about the Kenya Information and Communications Act which I think is also commendable. The idea of maintaining registers of their customers is important because we have seen some people send messages, some abusive, through phones. If we keep a register of all the people who operate in this business, then it will be easier to track them. The other amendment which I also support is to provide for the making of regulations for registration of subscribers. That is also the same. The Minister can make regulations for registration of these people in a way that we can be able to track them down when the registers are already in place. The other one we have talked about, and Dr. Otichilo was addressing was the penalties for interference in the telecommunication industry. There was a time when the Royal Media Services made it impossible for other players to operate. I think this is good so that it can deter this kind of behaviour when people fear competition. On the Energy Act; removal of delimitation on the qualification of persons to be licensed by the commission as electrical contractors, there is no need for those who are supposed to perform the work of contractors to be registered as engineers. This will be businessmen who invest money and can be able to employ engineers. So, I also support that amendment because of that. We have talked about deterrent penalties for persons who willfully destroy property. The power outages or blackouts we have had are because of interference and vandalism. The hon. Member talked about the contractors alone, but it is not only them. I think it is collusion by even the engineers who work in those companies. So, it is a worthwhile amendment which we should also support. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}