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{
    "id": 421201,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/421201/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 177,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "about the ambulances to ferry the sick and the hearses that transport the deceased. I have just explained why I have also considered the transport of the deceased as important. Now I move to credit reference bureau services. The Bill proposes to exempt credit reference bureau services under the First Schedule to the Act. Most financial services are exempt from VAT under the current law. Credit reference bureau services are an integral part of lending services, hence the need to exempt them as well. Now I move to sanitary and pests control services provided to households. This service may appear obscure but is essential and can be categorized under the broad health services. So, it should be exempt from VAT. Allow me to mention another service, postal service. Many services such as financial services, as I have mentioned--- Transportation of passengers which entails delivery of goods and services is exempt as I speak. It is, therefore, logical to exempt this service as well and also to save it from further decline as it faces competition from alternative communication media such as the internet. I then move to a very interesting and sensitive topic, namely supply of electricity to households which is restricted to 200 kilowatts per hour (kw/h). Before we enacted the VAT Act, 2013, supply of electricity to households from 200 kw/h and below was exempt from VAT. This was for a good reason, namely, because the majority of the people who consume electricity below 200 kw/h form part of the poor section of our society, or the low income earners in this country. The moment you put this group under VAT, you are making life difficult and expensive for them. We are talking of having 80 per cent of households in this country connected to electricity by 2017. If you are going to charge them VAT, even for as low as this consumption, then you are going to make life very expensive for the people of Kenya across the country. Therefore, there was no reason at all for this House to allow this group of Kenyans to be taxed. This was initially zero-rated in the former Act, but it is currently subjected to 16 per cent VAT, thereby making the cost of electricity very high for many low income households. Tax on electricity consumption is likely to cause a rise in electricity tariffs and inflation. This will place additional pressure on low income households and another risk of using charcoal, the preferred option. That will destroy our forests. We need to discourage our people from using wood fuel and move in the direction of electricity and other alternative sources of energy. We can only do this if we make these sources of energy inexpensive. The moment we make them expensive, we are certainly making wood fuel the preferable alternative."
}