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{
    "id": 738152,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/738152/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 218,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "I think the whole aspect of the accuracy of billing with regard to electronic services is something which this House must interrogate. In fact, before I became the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, I was sitting in the Departmental Committee on Energy, Communication and Information. I proposed to that Committee that Safaricom and other major Global System Mobile (GSM) service providers in this country must tell Kenyans the truth. It is not enough to be told this is your bill. It may be true that a minute of calling will cost you this much. How accurate are the bills they present to us? I think when we dissect those bills, it might be possible that is the reason why Safaricom is making huge profits. I am a big shareholder of Safaricom and I have no problem with any company declaring their profits. I think time has come for Safaricom and all other GSM service providers to be called to explain to Kenyans the accuracy of their billing. If you are talking of so many calls in their millions being made per second or minute, a small inaccuracy even to the tune of hundreds or even thousands by the back or forward and overbilling, even if it is expressed as a micro percentage look at the traffic which flows, will translate into a huge amount. We must move away from the traditional ways. Of course, it is known that our local butcheries tinker with their measuring equipment in very interesting ways. I can remember as a young boy, then food was very hard to come by and there were few times we were able to afford meat. I thank God we are now blessed and can choose what comes to the dinner table. We discovered that the local butcher very cleverly had just tied a stone to the weighing scale. You can imagine if 10, 50 or 100 people have bought meat and the stone probably weighs 20 or 25 grams. This man is literally selling you stones instead of meat and you are paying for the stone; a stone which he retains by the way. This is the case and yet you do not pay for the stone and take it away. The man remains with the stone but he has charged you for the stone just because he has cleverly attached it to the weight. This is something important. We must look at the entire dichotomy and continuum. Let us not be fixated and start thinking of weighing meat or sugar. Kenyans must be losing a lot in the whole aspect of measurements. I will be looking at this Bill in detail so that we bring in the electronic aspect. I had a question and I have just seen my friend, Eng. Njoroge, the Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Energy trying to call me. When he appeared before the Departmental Committee on Energy, Communication and Information when I was still sitting on that Committee, I asked him how accurate the electricity bills he gives Kenyans were. 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."
}