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{
    "id": 724164,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/724164/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 361,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Gikaria",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2489,
        "legal_name": "David Gikaria",
        "slug": "david-gikaria"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity to try and ventilate on what the Chairman of the Departmental Committee, the Member for Matungu, has just said. I am a Member of the Kenya Football Federation and we have been a huge stakeholder in the betting industry in this country for the last two years. The Federation is a big stakeholder because most of the betting companies focus on sporting activities like football and rugby. I was looking at Article 109 of the Constitution on how we are supposed to legislate. A Bill can come from a Member of Parliament or a Committee. We totally agree with that. The Bill must follow due process, especially public participation, which must involve the relevant stakeholders. The Constitution, under Article 1(2), states that the people may exercise their sovereign power either directly or through their democratically elected representatives. As a sporting nation, the introduction of betting companies has transformed the sporting activities. We were not doing very well. We had some administrative issues in football, but now things have changed. We are now very accountable and it is because of the betting companies that have injected a lot of money in the sporting industry. I am told that our partners, the Kenya Premier League, appeared before the Committee today where they presented themselves as a company that runs the topflight football in the country. The Federation has funds. We have football clubs coming up at the county level and betting is done at the grassroots too. We would also want the benefits to trickle down to the grassroots. Bringing this legislation in such a hurry might curtail and kill the talent that exists in the sporting industry. Just the other day, our country was ranked above 140 in terms of football. In the two years that the sport has enjoyed betting sponsorship, we are now at 75. It just shows the improvement. Things could only improve further if we put in place good legislation. 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."
}