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{
    "id": 721839,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/721839/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 40,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kang’ata",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1826,
        "legal_name": "Irungu Kang'ata",
        "slug": "irungu-kangata"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise to second the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Bill, 2016. The proposed amendments to the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act (Chapter 131 of the Laws of Kenya) make a lot of sense. The idea is to harmonise that law with the provisions of the Constitution. The amendments also seek to clarify the roles of the Chairman of the Board and the Director of Betting. This is in conformity with the usual corporate governance that currently obtains in the public and private sectors. The Government wants to bring this in tandem with the normal governance structures of various companies. There is a proposal to limit the period of the Board membership to two terms of three years. The rationale of doing this is to ensure that the Board does not overstay in that position. There is also the idea of raising the fees and fines payable under the Act. Maybe, this proposal will cure what our brother, Hon. Midiwo, is trying to cure through another proposal to change this law, so that companies that engage in betting, lotteries and gaming can be penalised heavily if they breach any provisions of the law. The second proposal targets the dairy industry. I come from a region where one of its main economic activities is dairy farming. It is true that we now need to commercialise goat and camel milk. The proposed amendment to this law seeks to re-define ‘milk’ to include goat and camel milk. The third proposed amendment is with regard to the Clinical Officers (Training, Registration and Licensing) Act of 1988. The amendment seeks to make consequential changes to terminologies arising out of the enactment of the new supreme law. The new Constitution brought in devolution and health services have since been devolved. We need to ensure that we change any law that touches on matters that have been devolved. There is also a proposal to amend the Employment Act (Act No. 11 of 2007). We need to give employers some leeway. For a very long time, we have been operating in a situation where matters seem to favour employees. We fail to take into account that without the employer, there can never be an employee. For instance, in the Government, there has been an effort to re-deploy police offers from their stations. When they go to court, they win because the court will look at the Employment Act. The police employer does not have the power to transfer or even re-deploy a police officer from one station to another. Therefore, this proposal seeks to cure that anomaly. We want to give an employer more space, freedom and power to deploy or even re-deploy an employee or even assign job titles. That way, Kenya will become attractive to investors since we will be having more laws that are friendly to employers. We all know the importance of employers in job creation in poor countries like Kenya. We also have an amendment proposal on the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act (Act No. 4 of 2010). We all know the problem of alcoholism in this country. The definition of the word “magistrate” in the current Act does not tally with the definition of “magistrate” as contained in 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."
}