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{
    "id": 319187,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/319187/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 422,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Duale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I must praise the Minister, but he should stop bringing piecemeal amendments in the financial sector. He is doing the same in the Capital Markets (Amendment) Bill, which is before this House. He is also doing the same in the Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Bill and the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill. Piecemeal amendments will not help the CBK to achieve its desired goals. We can correct the errors that we did in the Financial Bill if we do a comprehensive review of the Central Bank of Kenya Act in line with the independency that the Constitution has given. Having said that, I intend to bring a number of amendments to this Bill, contrary to what the Minister has. The highlight of the Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Bill is mainly the removal of the Governor from chairing the board and excluding the Deputy Governor from the membership of the CBK Board. I want to go into history. The CBK is an institution that has a lot of similarities with other central banks globally, namely, within the region, within Africa and the international community. The amendment seeks to remove the Governor from being the chair of the board, but a member of the board. Why do we have the Governor as the chair of the board in a number of jurisdictions and advanced economies like England, Italy, France, Germany, emerging economies like Brazil, India and South Africa and our neighbours Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda? Why is the chair of their boards the governor? This is basically to safeguard the independency of the institutions. For us to safeguard the independency of the institution, we must have the Governor as the chair of the board. In the US and other jurisdictions where they have the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, this is the person who is vested with the powers. The role of our executive chair is not well defined. The chair of the board is similar to the Governor. I want to plead with the Minister that we must live within a global central bank framework. The Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Bill provides that the chairperson will be appointed by the President with the approval of this House. It increases the number of the non- executive members of the board from the current five to eight. The reconstitution of the board in this amendment with nine non-executive members and only one executive member is not ideally consistent with the practice of corporate governance across the world. These are the issues that the Minister, and I am sure the Finance Committee, should address themselves to. In corporate governance worldwide, we must have a balanced mix of the technocrats, the bureaucrats and the private sector players."
}