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{
    "id": 699209,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/699209/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 142,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. A.B. Duale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. As I second, Hon. Katoo has done a great job of moving this Bill. He has highlighted a few amendments that are proposed in the Bill. I will just highlight four key areas. Number one, the Competition Authority, as currently constituted and within the provisions of this Act, is facing certain challenges when it is conducting market research inquiries. When they ask for information from stakeholders in order to address those challenges, they do not get it. So, what does the Bill do? This amendment proposes to impose an obligation on every stakeholder. It will become mandatory in the market to provide the necessary information that is required by the Authority. After this Bill is assented to, they can write to you and tell you they want “A,” “B”, “C” and “D” and, as a marketer or a company, you must provide that information. What is the objective of this? It is to protect consumers from unfair and misleading market conduct where a company misbehaves or provides fake goods in the market. The Authority has now been given powers. Number two - and the most important one - is to create remedial measures and penalties under the Competition Act, especially penalties for abuse of dominance. When Airtel or Safaricom abuse their dominance, the Authority will now have the powers, under this law to impose certain penalties and administrative measures in as far as abuse of dominance is concerned. I will now go to number three, which is the second last. The Act is not very clear. There are Small and Medium Term (SME) companies that want to merge. That is not a function of the Competition Authority. World over, authorities deal with big multinational companies that want to merge. So, this particular amendment is trying to reduce the administrative burden on the Authority and facilitate investment through such mergers. SMEs can merge, but the Authority will focus on when Barclays Bank wants to merge with Standard Chartered Bank. When small local firms want to merge, that is not a function of the Authority. So, this Bill proposes to set up a specific threshold for mergers which should be excluded from the provisions of the Competition Act. At what threshold can the Authority deal with it in as far as mergers are concerned? 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."
}