Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 301618,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/301618/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 310,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Ethuro",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 158,
        "legal_name": "Ekwee David Ethuro",
        "slug": "ekwee-ethuro"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, hon. Jakoyo Midiwo keeps on impressing me every time. He is highly productive and looks at the issues that matter to the Kenyan citizens. I wish to commend him for his gallant efforts. He has also told us, in terms of the Consumer Protection Bill--- This is an issue that will be an ongoing concern in this House that the Governments in the past - and they still have that tendency now because I am bring an IDP Bill and someone is writing that the Government wants to take it. We will not allow the Government to take our Bills because when they do so, they sit on them. Actually, they take them away and put them in the dust bins. Therefore, the issue of protecting the consumer of this country is very important and I will not go to the reasons because you have heard them. You will go to look for beef but you end up eating donkey meat. When you go for mutton, you are given other things. When you go for chicken, you are given flamingo, cat or dog meat. Surely, where is the protector of public interest? Consumerism is at the heart of my discipline called “economics” and the demand theory. Preferences and tastes and the relative prices of commodities determine how the consumers partake of certain commodities. However, here you have a state which does not care what the prices are, what the consumer preferences would be and when you go to the super market, you get different prices for such basic essential commodities even when this House has passed into law a Bill in terms of protecting the consumer in relation to basic commodities like wheat, maize and rice, which is the staple food of the Kenyan citizenry. However, the enforcement by the state is completely wanting. I think this is why this Bill – I want to thank hon. Midiwo – is coming with a legal framework to ensue the enforcement is guaranteed. I will not talk about the interest rates because we have heard that. We had a Select Committee in this House to look into the depreciation of the Shilling to the extent that the exchange rate as we speak now you cannot buy a vehicle from Toyota Kenya using Kenyan Shillings. You must use dollars because of the exchange rate has gone haywire. Once companies and corporations start trading in the dollar, then you must be worried for the country. When you find that with Kenya Airways you fly with dollars, then you have reason to be worried. This is a basket case. This is a similar case to Zimbabwe. With this law, we are going to inspire confidence in our own country. We are going to stabilize prices. We will ensure that consumers get value for their money. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is not only the Government. I think this Bill will go to the heart of Kenyans’ bad behavior; that you go for nyama choma or boilo and ask for a kilogram and in the process of cutting the meat they put some aside for their own consumption or to sell to other people. These bad habits by Kenyans must stop. The Government is not going to legislate on this one. The Government must inspect the premises and the kind of people who are dealing with these kinds of issues so that once they know that “Uncle Sam” is watching, then at least they will start taking these things very seriously. In the place where I come from, we do not have many supermarkets; just one or two. When you go to the duka where they only have weights of 500 grammes or one kilogram and then they put the product on the other end, you will find that those scales are permanently defective. This morning there was a Question on the packaging of potatoes in Molo and Kuresoi by the traders. Instead of packing the potatoes in a 90 kilogram bag, they are packaging them in a 110 kilogramme bag for the same price of a 90 kilogram bag. This is a rip off to the consumers of this great Republic. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in the spirit of the request by Mrs. Odhiambo-Mabona, we just want to support Mr. Midiwo because he has really brought very good Bills here which focus on the nation. I just want to mention that I hope that Mr. Midiwo is not treating this Bill as an ODM Bill because if you notice the seconder was Mr. Onyancha and they come from the same party. I thought he would ask me to second because this matter is beyond a party. This is a matter that is at the heart of the Kenyan people. I want Mr. Midiwo to also take the same zeal in dealing with issues and not just having that zeal when it comes to ODM matters so that we reduce---"
}