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{
    "id": 685243,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/685243/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 93,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. How I had wished that the Chairman would have understood the context of my explanation. I had said that there is now equity in terms of the small vehicles. However, I wished that instead, the rate of Import Duty should have been less than 20 per cent. That is what I meant. It is good for him to understand the context in which I stated my point. I can see he has now understood the context in which my argument was made. It is good in terms of equity. Smaller vehicles were paying a much higher rate and it was not proportionate. There was no equity. Bringing in a percentage introduces the aspect of equity. Majority of the youth run businesses using boda bodas and the Probox. Instead of the 20 per cent rate of Import Duty, it should have been much lower, so that we can encourage those entrepreneurial businesses. In my community, we have given out money through the Uwezo Fund. When some of this money is given to the youth, they form Savings and Credits Cooperative (SACCO) to buy Proboxes which they use for transport. That 20 per cent is still high. May be in future it will be lowered so that we can encourage the youth to set up businesses. I want to mention something about the banking industry. In any growing economy, the banking industry is very important. I call upon His Excellency the President, to move with speed and assent to the Bill we passed on the Floor of this House on capping bank interest rates. We have seen banks now waking up and saying that they will have an MOU, so that they can regulate themselves and lower interest rates. This is long overdue. This issue has been there. The only industry that has been making super profits in this country is the banking industry. His Excellency the President cannot run away from it, not just because we are approaching elections, but because he must have the interests of the people at heart. This is in the Jubilee Government’s Manifesto. I do not understand why we are dilly dallying on this. We do not want to wait for 14 days. We request him to assent to this Bill immediately, so that this industry can be regulated. Banks cannot continue robbing Kenyans of their money. I support the measures put in place by the Chairman. We cannot allow entrepreneurs to come in and then say that we are going to increase the capital base from Kshs1 billion to Kshs5 billion to make banks competitive. Chase Bank and Imperial Bank had issues, but their capital base was in excess of Kshs20 billion. Competitiveness has nothing to do with the capital base. We want it to remain at Kshs1 billion, so that other smaller banks can enter into the industry and eat that cake. Poor governance and corruption is killing the banking industry. Chase Bank and Imperial Bank failed because of bad governance and unethical issues. It is the responsibility of the Central 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."
}