Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 471157,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/471157/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 294,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Otichilo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 131,
        "legal_name": "Wilber Ottichilo Khasilwa",
        "slug": "wilber-ottichilo"
    },
    "content": "I am happy that this Bill is creating the Scrap Metal Council which will oversee how the business of scrap metal is undertaken in this country. One of its main functions will be to issue a licence to scrap metal dealers because anybody can currently deal with scrap metal. Those vandals have done a lot of damage. Take for example the infrastructure we build using CDF money. I will give an example of my constituency. We have built bridges. But those bridge guards are removed immediately. At night, thugs go to the homes of people who have built permanent houses in my constituency but have left and are staying in Nairobi, remove iron sheets and metal doors and sell them. We need to reign in on those economic saboteurs of this country. As my colleagues have said, scrap metal is very important. It is not prudent for a country to allow its scrap metal to be collected in a haphazard manner and sold by unscrupulous dealers outside this country. Scrap metal is very important for our industrialization. It is, therefore, important for that business to be controlled. Everybody who deals in that business must be legitimate and must be given a legitimate licence to undertake that business. I have looked at some of the penalties that are being proposed in this Bill and my view is that they are still very lenient. This being an economic crime, those people must be punished severely. I believe, for example, that anybody dealing in scrap metal and is found to have committed a crime in that business should face severe punishment in terms of jail term or a fine. Some of the penalties proposed include three years imprisonment or a fine of Kshs20 million. I believe the fine is okay, but the imprisonment should be a jail term of about ten years. This is so that it is a deterrent. I will be bringing an amendment to increase the penalty in terms of the jail term. Those people should be jailed because they are economic saboteurs of this country and they should not be left in the streets. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Clause 24 of this Bill is about road furniture. When our roads are built they, have nice signage and rail guards. However, within a short time, all the metal is taken away as scrap metal. We need to punish those people severely. Anybody who is found with scrap metal he or she cannot account for should be charged and jailed or fined severely and the metal forfeited. With regard to exportation, we should put very stringent rules and regulations on how and under what circumstances we should export our scrap metal. It should be the last thing that we should do. We need the scrap metal here. Why are we exporting it only to import scrap metal that has been processed either in India or China at double the price or even more? 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."
}