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{
    "id": 466696,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/466696/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 293,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Langat",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 384,
        "legal_name": "Benjamin Kipkirui Langat",
        "slug": "benjamin-langat"
    },
    "content": "The hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other thing this Bill seeks to do, according to the new Constitution is that, Parliament has been denied the power to make any law that excludes any person from paying tax by virtue of their positions. If you look at the Income Tax Act as it is today, it still excludes the armed forces and so, under the amendments which are before this House, they are really to ensure that everybody pays taxes including the armed forces. I know nobody wants to pay taxes but we must also follow the Constitution which was passed. Even hon. Members of this House are no longer exempted, they now pay taxes like any other Kenyan. Therefore, I would like to urge our armed forces to follow suit so that we follow the Constitution together. The other amendment that has been put through this Finance Bill is to expand the definition of “place of business” for banking purposes. If you look at the present Banking Act, it says that the place of business is Kenya. That means the Central Bank cannot monitor the branch of, for example, Kenya Commercial Bank in Uganda, Sudan or Tanzania. So, it seeks to expand the place of business for commercial banks even outside Kenya. The Central Bank can still monitor the operations of a bank both inside and outside the country; where the banks have their branches. The Banking sector is properly monitored by the Central Bank. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one other thing which has been covered, as I mentioned earlier, is the Retirement Benefits Authority Act. The main amendment which is being proposed here is that it gives a system whereby those who are managing the retirements should be determined through some qualification criteria. This is because retirement money is very important as everybody should be sure that when he/she retires, his/her contributions are safe and that one will get the money and retire in peace. So, I agree that there should be a criterion for those who are managing it. They should have some qualifications that are required for them to manage and actually give confidence to the retirees concerning safety of their money. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also have the East African Development Bank Act, and the amendment being sought is really to make the East African Development Bank, in terms of functions and service to match with the other international bodies. For example, the amendment seeks to make them do the work that the African Development Bank, International Monetary Fund and other International Banks do. We can run an East African bank which can help us in this country before we go very far away. So, the amendment seeks to strengthen how the East African 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."
}