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{
    "id": 419291,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/419291/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 334,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. F.K. Wanyonyi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2065,
        "legal_name": "Ferdinard Kevin Wanyonyi",
        "slug": "ferdinard-kevin-wanyonyi"
    },
    "content": "My contribution to this Bill is that I support it wholeheartedly. First, as you all know, Kenyans are a highly taxed people in the world. The Government, in its wisdom, increased the VAT. I want to thank hon. Mbadi for having come up with these amendments, which I support. Out there, the rural electrification programme, as most Members have said, will help the youth to be self-employed and empower them. Recently, we passed a Bill on the Uwezo Fund to empower the youth to do some work out there. It is going to help our youths to create employment out there. Secondly, we are going to empower them. Thirdly, I just want to echo what a Member has mentioned, that the problem that the Pan Paper factory at Webuye has today is because of an electricity bill. I want to take this opportunity to ask the Government to probably waive that huge bill that has left the factory’s operations grounded. The other thing that I want to mention here is the fact that before introduction of high taxation, this country was having a lot of tourists. We got a lot of foreign exchange through tourism, but because of high taxation, I am told that tourists are going elsewhere. They fear that they will pay a lot of taxes here on small things like drinks. This Bill is going to help us to, at least, re-attract tourists who have been going elsewhere. Some dishonest businessmen have been using this confusion to levy VAT on some items that are either exempted or zero-rated. I want to suggest that given that the Bill is going to be very clear, those found claiming VAT refunds fraudulently should be punished heavily. I say this because most businessmen collude with Government officials to rip off the Government by making false claims of VAT. The other thing is that I am wondering what has happened to the Jubilee Government. We all know that in the previous Government, hon. Kibaki raised a lot of taxes without hurting so much the ordinary people. But the Jubilee Government is panicking and raising taxes all over the place. That is why we are having this problem. We know they want to fulfill some of the pledges they made and that is why they are taxing anything and everything that comes their way. If you look at the former President Kibaki’s Government, we did not have these kinds of problems. I am told that there is no money now because there are too many things to pay for. This Government is looking for money from everything and everywhere. Because of the so many taxes that this country is faced with, we find that foreigners are finding it better to invest in neighbouring countries, for example, Rwanda. Rwanda is attracting many foreigners because they realized that there are many taxes in Kenya. I am also told that Uganda and Tanzania are The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}