Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 493522,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/493522/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 223,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Sunjeev",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13136,
        "legal_name": "Sunjeev Kour Birdi",
        "slug": "sunjeev-kour-birdi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. I stand to support this Bill. When a Bill comes to the Floor of this House, one of the most important things that we have to look at is its purpose. If I can cite what was said by the Governor of the Central of Kenya in June this year, he said that one of the key elements that had attributed to the rapid expansion of the Kenyan bond market was having a stable legal regulatory regime. That goes to say that regulation is definitely required in any form of business. It was also cited last year that Kshs1.3 trillion had been traded across the Mpesa platform. That means that Kenyans have the money to invest safely and reap the benefits safely. I use the word “safely” because we have to trust the people who are going to invest our money. That leads us to also investors from abroad who have a lot of capital and they want to entrust it to an institution that can invest it for them properly. The Bill also provides that when a person is caught committing that kind of business fraud as a first offender, he should be fined not more than Kshs500,000. However, if that same person is caught a second time, he should be fined not more than Kshs1,000,000. I find that a bit strange because I think we should put a higher bar in terms of the fines. As you are aware, in December, 2013, we passed the Wildlife Bill, which provides that a person who is caught poaching should be fined Kshs20 million. We still have a long way to go to enact proper legislation in terms of punishing the culprits who take the money off innocent Kenyans and foreign investors and take them for a jolly good ride. From the outset, I support this Bill. I support what everybody else has said that this is very timely. Thank you for giving me this chance."
}