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{
"id": 833257,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/833257/?format=api",
"text_counter": 246,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kiharu, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
"speaker": {
"id": 13370,
"legal_name": "Samson Ndindi Nyoro",
"slug": "samson-ndindi-nyoro"
},
"content": "2012/2013 Financial Year, KRA was collecting around half of the money that we are collecting now. What I am trying to say is that even when it comes to spending Government money, there are gaps because around the same time when we were collecting around Kshs700 billion to Kshs800 billion in 2012/2013 Financial Year, our wage bill as a country was around Kshs270 billion. Currently, we are approaching Kshs400 billion without even adding the cost of maintaining those salaried officers in their offices. One of the issues that I grapple with as a Member of Parliament is the national cake that we bake when we collect money especially through KRA. I was to make this point yesterday but time ran out. Some of the people who contribute most to baking this national cake – and I am speaking about the people in Nairobi County and the people around Nairobi County like my county, Murang’a, Kiambu, Nyeri, Kajiado and others – that have got high density population, sometimes we feel that the way that we apportion that national cake is unfair to us. This is because in this country, it is the people who vote. It is the people we represent here in this Parliament. We do not represent kilometres. However, when it comes to dividing this national cake, as a Member of Parliament for Kiharu in Murang’a County with over 500,000 registered voters comparative to a county like Migori that just had a by-election with 300,000 or so registered voters, they have eight constituencies, it is not fair. Our county of Murang’a, with close to over 50 per cent of that, has less constituencies. For example, when it comes to the NG- CDF, I get the same amount as a person who is representing 10,000 people. I do not think this is justice to the people who contribute to the baking of this national cake. This House and this country have to adopt the issue of one man, one vote and one shilling. We do not vote in terms of kilometres neither do we even pay taxes on the basis of kilometres. Therefore, this issue of thinking that the people around Nairobi, and especially Murang’a, are well off and, therefore, we are not even considered for issues like the Equalisation Fund which is also expenditure from the same budget, I think we need to align that. As I finish, I still keep thinking that, as a country, we actually have an answer on this issue of borrowing. I want to give it by way of an example. We are just about to build a highway from Nairobi to Mombasa at a cost of around Kshs300 billion. However, I keep thinking, and this is the common law, that you only borrow what you do not have and you borrow when you do not have. However, I think our country is so rich and we have so many other resources at our disposal that we do not actually go into borrowing. This is one of the examples. There is a company called Safaricom which is one of the biggest companies in this country. Its biggest shareholders are actually the Government of Kenya and Vodacom. With a 35 per cent share, the Government of Kenya has a stake of close to Kshs300 billion. Why are we borrowing the same amount of money when we can privatise the Government’s stake in Safaricom and fund infrastructural development without attracting interest due to borrowing? Others would argue why you would sell a company that is profitable. Corporate tax in Kenya is around 35 per cent. Some of my minutes were stolen, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I need your intervention so that I can finish my point. Others may argue why you would sell Safaricom which is the most profitable company in Kenya. You sell your cow at its peak. With a corporate tax of over 30 per cent, the Government already has stakes in every company in this country because after…"
}