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{
    "id": 573991,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/573991/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 120,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Gichigi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1909,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Kamunye Gichigi",
        "slug": "samuel-kamunye-gichigi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I also rise to support this particular Bill. For a long time, we have had a colonial relic as the Act governing companies’ activities in this country. This Bill has been brought at a very timely occasion. It is voluminous but I ask all our Members to have a look at it. It is going to impact on the way business is done in this country. As we move towards opening up our country to foreign investors, it is a good Bill. It has quite a number of amendments that are required to make it properly functional. All in all it is reforming the regime of law that governs companies. Looking at Clause 129, it is a good law that it is now making it mandatory that a company must have a natural director. Previously, you would have two companies having the same directors. You would not even be able to identify the face behind a company because you might find that if you go and search for two companies that have directors, you will find that the directors of one company are also directors in the other company. It is good that we now have a face that we can identify with the company. For a long time, people have been using their children as directors and shareholders. The law in Clause 131 is very clear now. For a person to become a director, they must be of majority age of at least 18 years old. It can be very harmful when you are trying to collect a debt only to find that the company itself is completely invalid in that the directors are children. Many people, especially the people who are trying to hide the assets that they were looting from public coffers, would use crooks and children as directors and shareholders. Clause 131 takes care of that. Some clauses must be corrected. Clause 134 is dangerous in that it is validating all acts of directors, whether those directors are legitimate or illegitimate. We need to qualify such that people do not deliberately pretend to be directors while they know that they are not directors. They need to know that whatever decisions they make are going to be deemed by the law invalid. Clause 134 must be amended and I hope that the Committee is taking care of that. Clause 135 is very good. The law now requires a company to keep a register and particulars of the directors and also makes it mandatory that the register can be accessible to members of the public during working hours. For a long time, people have engaged with companies. You buy something from a company but when you try to trace who the directors are 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."
}