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{
    "id": 517282,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/517282/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 302,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "We must demand accountability, especially where we have made public appeals for public causes. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am very happy that a Fundraising Appeals Committee is proposed in this Bill. This is quite a departure from what had been defined in the Public Collections Act, which was still talking about District Commissioners (DCs), District Officers (DOs) and chiefs. I am glad that the Fundraising Appeals Committee has got a human face and there are qualifications for members of that committee. However, we need to be careful not to convert this into a new bureaucracy or tyranny. We should be careful that it does not become a rent seeking tool whereby if you want to organise a public appeal, you are told that you must provide chicken and all those other delicacies that our electoral body is fond of. The committee should also not be a know-it-all body that can decide whether a fundraising appeal is valid or not. I believe that its mandate should be limited to processing applications rather than getting into the weighty matters of merits. The weighty matters of merits, perhaps, could have been addressed if we had County Development Boards as envisaged by this Senate. There is a section that talks about taxing incentives on voluntary contributions. This is also something that we need to give an opportunity in this country, because you find that there are people who make voluntary contributions to worthy causes, but they do not benefit from any tax rebates. We also have to be very careful that people are not going to use this for money laundering or tax evasion. We have seen far too often, people whose salaries, backgrounds and fathers and mothers we know, all of a sudden, go to Nairobi for a month and then come back with loads of cash. I do not think we have gazetted any place in this country where you can go and pluck cash from trees. So, we have found people who have acquired and accumulated wealth through very dubious means; using fundraisers and public appeals to launder themselves. I hope Section 53 that talks about taxing incentives on voluntary contributions will not encourage some of these unscrupulous individuals to launder themselves and avoid paying taxes. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I have said, we must not create a new bureaucracy that makes it frustrating for people to take care of urgent affairs. In my view, this Bill should apply to public appeals for public causes. I feel we need to be a bit careful about public appeals for private causes. Someone has died and the body needs to be transported back home. That could be a public appeal for a private cause and it really is optional. However, a public appeal for a public cause is where, we as citizens, are coming in to do the things that Government is supposed to do. We pay taxes and Kenyans are taxed heavily. It is very painful when we still have to come back to build schools, roads and hospitals, yet the tax we pay is being spent in Somali in ways that could serve us much better back home. I beg to support and I hope that as these progresses to the Committee Stage, some of the recommendations we have made will be taken into account. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}