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{
    "id": 846672,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/846672/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM – K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to this debate. I thank the Committee for the good job done in terms of analysing this Finance Bill. I must agree that this Bill is quite complicated and it must have taken them a lot of time to analyse. This Bill is expected to raise about Kshs27.2 billion in terms of revenue. The proposals in this Bill are just to make sure that we get that money. Even as we think about raising revenue, it is important that we consider effective measures so that we do not also destabilise the economy. Looking at the Bill, I will very quickly mention some of the good things that will help the economy and then quickly look at things which will need more time to think through. Looking at Clause 10, there is the issue of collection from winnings which should be put into the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund. That is good for purposes of developing our sports facilities because we are having challenges in that area. The other area which is important is a situation where there are conflicts in terms of tax issues. Clause 21 proposes use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and also goes ahead and says that it is important that we think about out-of-court settlements. Another important case is Clause 27 where the Commissioner is given mandate or authority to actually cancel licenses where owners of those licenses are engaging in fraud or counterfeit excise terms. This is important because those are some of the areas where we have not been able to collect revenue because of those loopholes. There are about three or four areas where as a House, we need to make sure that we have our voice heard. The first item is the issue of the National Housing Development Fund which is captured in Clause 68. There are very many unanswered questions with regard to this Clause. The first one is: If I contribute to this particular Fund as an employee and I have my own house and so I do not need the house, how will I benefit from that Fund? The second question is: How will those who are in the informal sector and who are the neediest in terms of housing benefit in this area? The third question is: Is it better to have a Fund which people contribute to and then money is used to benefit needy Kenyans without caring about the person contributing? If so, should it not be applicable to all Kenyans rather than singling out the employees? This is discrimination where we want to get money from only those people who are employed because it easier to collect money through salaries. The other important point is that when this Fund is introduced, people should think through the framework so that it does not cause confusion. This is a very bad Clause for those The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}