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{
    "id": 721732,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/721732/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 360,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I really appreciate. We are being told that Safaricom is churning out hundreds of billions of shillings in profit, but for doing what? It has been argued in some quarters that perhaps some of the work Safaricom is doing is leading to reduction in economic activity. As young people, we used to engage in tangible economic activities. Today, people in their twenties would rather be looking at how to get additional bundles to be on the internet. In fact, it has been said that the social media, of which Safaricom is a major part, has become a forest of mediocrity. Creativity is almost non- existent. People are looking for the easy way out. More importantly, if we cannot bring a class action suit against Safaricom--- Is Safaricom a bank? Is it a telecommunication company? Is it a construction company? It is doing almost everything and anything. I agree entirely. Safaricom gets these big profits and it is now time to do a cost-benefit analysis. Yes, you made these hundreds of billions of shillings, but how did it impact the people of Kenya directly? We cannot be told that hundreds of billions of shillings have been made. The profit that Safaricom makes, in fact, I think, is bigger than the economies of Burundi and Rwanda put together. Why is it not making a difference? Why is there so much hopelessness with this much profit being made in our country? Something is completely wrong. We are turning a blind eye to this. I am encouraged to note that there was a CS who had proposed, I think it must have been Fred Matiang’i, to break down Safaricom into an infrastructure company, a banking company doing the Mpesa business and a telecommunications company. Why would we be having Mpesa, which is essentially a bank? Billions of shillings of Kenyans’ money is being held in Mpesa accounts yet this company is not being regulated as a bank. Before Safaricom becomes the biggest economic lie ever told, let us get in. If our Executive and the Judiciary cannot do it, let this House lead from the forefront to break this big economic lie into entities that would make sense and entities that would truly drive the Kenyan economy. We do not want an economy which is apparently moving forward and the people’s standard of living is moving in the opposite direction. I support, but I will be proposing amendments, so that we can find a place for intelligence as a movable intangible asset which can be used to get collateral. I wish you a nice weekend."
}