{"id":686718,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/686718/?format=json","text_counter":179,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. (Ms.) Wahome","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":1700,"legal_name":"Alice Muthoni Wahome","slug":"alice-muthoni-wahome"},"content":"Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Bill. I want to support it because the regulations are timely now that the country needs to raise sufficient funds for development. As we debate, it is important to say that there is still a challenge in the way we collect and manage our revenue. Collecting is one thing and managing the revenue is another. We still have not been able to collect sufficient revenue from all the areas we need to. Targeting this area is good. We all know that gaming and betting are kind of luxury games for people who may have more money than they need. It is not a matter of life and death. Therefore, it is important that we tax these businesses even as we encourage them to spend more. Most important is how we apply that revenue in our development to achieve our Vision 2030. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is a concern that is rising within the country – that we have so many games that have come up even in our villages. We have seen games where small school children need to pay just Kshs20 to start. Therefore, there is idling within the villages and the shopping centres. It is becoming a menace. It is bringing more youth to towns to do nothing but gaming. We need to find how county governments, even as we deal with this regulation, will help. This is because most of these businesses are being licensed by our county governments. It is unfortunate that the revenue received in our counties, looking at development, has had no pro- rata impact on the ground. We are not for the development of our counties. Applying back the revenue is not there in our counties. My big concern is how we are regulating or keeping our school children from the gaming dens? How far from the villages, school centres and other education institutions are the games being allowed? Unless this regulation targets that aspect, we may not have achieved much. I know that gaming, lotteries and betting bring revenue. But, this is now being devolved to our villages. There are so many games that have been developed by people to basically collect money from members of the public. This is not good. We are not minding about the negative impact. As the national Government and the National Assembly, it is time we regulated the kinds of games that are mushrooming in every bar, shop and within our villages. If we do not do something immediately, the education sector and the Ministry of Education, Science and 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."}