{"id":506984,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/506984/?format=json","text_counter":337,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Kabando wa Kabando","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":31,"legal_name":"Kabando wa Kabando","slug":"kabando-kabando"},"content":"money transfer through my mobile phone, there is a ledger fee in addition to other charges like even when I am applying for a loan? Sometimes administrative charges for loans in commercial banks take a whopping 10 per cent of the principal loan. It does not make sense that I am paid, at the end of the year in addition to the ledger fees and many other fees, 1.58 per cent interest. Then they use my money to lend to the Government at 10 per cent interest rate. The composition of public debt; the market of it, needs to be altered in the interest of the people of this country. When we initiated the move on the Free Primary Education in 2003, the skeptics said that it was not doable. When the Ninth Parliament initiated the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), a few individuals said that it was not going to work and that it was not easy for Kenya to put 2.5 per cent of the ordinary revenue to every one of the then 290 constituencies. That amount has even come up. Consistently, that has been done. So, in every village that you go to, you can touch a dispensary, a classroom and water projects under the CDF. Many students have benefitted through bursaries. That time, it was opposed because people feared that change. Even devolution itself, as much as we may disagree with a governor or a county government here or there, the bottom line is that devolution is benefitting Kenyans. Gone are the days where we would go to kneel before donors for one second-hand ambulance. We thank them for that. In every county or city that you visit now, you will see an ambulance or another investment in the health care sector. Even when the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and the Women Enterprise Development Fund were being initiated, and the question of gender equality; these were issues that needed bold moves in order to change. Therefore, I thank the Committees that have addressed this matter and the Members who have shown a lot of interest in this matter. I look forward to the passage of this Bill, so that it can cause a fundamental tilt. It is expected that once done, then the officers concerned and the CBK, of course, propelled by the Treasury and by the Executive at large, will not wait for the Parliamentary Implementation Committee to cause them to act. That within a good time frame, execution will cause an impact on interest rates. They are killing Kenyans. Many young people, and I will not talk just about the graduates who are working in the formal sector and in the white collar jobs, people who are on mortgage for their cars and houses, many citizens are in distress and depression because of the unpredictability of the financing regime, particularly the commercial banks and more so, in the area of loaning. Therefore, this is not just a governance Bill or an amendment on the leadership of the CBK. It is intended to upset the existing scenarios, so that eventually, the multiply effect will touch the financial sector in a positive manner. If we can change the interest rates regime in this country, more individuals will plough back their income into investments. That is what we call job and wealth creation. That will mean a more prosperous country that has the objective, capacity, will and the clear intention to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots."}