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{
    "id": 846750,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/846750/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 277,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bomet Central, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ronald Tonui",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1242,
        "legal_name": "Ronald Kiprotich Tonui",
        "slug": "ronald-kiprotich-tonui"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. I support some parts of the Bill and oppose others. I want to start with those parts of the Bill which should not be captured. The first one is on the housing scheme. Being part of Jubilee, I normally read in the media that we have four agendas. Even though we are Members of Parliament from Jubilee, we have never sat down to endorse it. With regard to the issue of the housing scheme, the Bill proposes that employees should have Kshs5,000 deducted from their salaries, which is the maximum or 0.5 per cent of their salaries. The Committee proposes to adjust it to 1.5 per cent. Kenyan workers are already overtaxed and do not need more taxes. In fact, they need salary adjustments because of inflation, which has affected their income. The issue of housing can be done in a different way. The best way to achieve that agenda of better housing for this country could be by ensuring that there are cheaper building materials and reducing the cost of building materials. Every person can go to any place and purchase materials and build their own affordable houses, rather than creating a Housing Fund. The Housing Fund will be very risky and may be run the way the National Youth Service (NYS) is being run. It will create opportunities for looting. I do not know if those who came up with this idea considered the possibility of looting in terms of the Housing Fund. I completely oppose this suggestion. I do not support it. That idea presumes that all the workers will be stationed in one place and that they will never be transferred. It also presumes that they will stay where they work and need those houses to stay in. There is also no assurance that once you contribute this 1.5 per cent, you will be given a house. Even business people who are not contributing to this Fund will also purchase the same houses. I wonder if we are assuming that the Government can build cheaper houses. I do not think so. I believe people who are constructing houses commercially may do it better than the Government. In the Government, no one is directly answerable. Everyone thinks of earning something small. The way this issue of housing under the Government is being approached is not the best. It will lead to looting and very expensive houses. I completely oppose it. In Clause 58, there is a proposal to amend the Banking Act. I also oppose it because it wants to adjust interest rates to ensure that we go back to the interest rates of 26 per cent and 30 per cent, which were very exploitative to the members of the public. I congratulate Hon. Jude Njomo for proposing that amendment, which capped the interest rates and I support it. By repealing this part of the law, we are exposing the members of the public to exploitation by banks. They will be exploited in terms of what they are borrowing with regard to interest rates. Also, we want to open the lower side, so that when they deposit their money, they are not paid peanuts in return. We are not taking good care of them. Currently, banks are making excessive profits, which is not right. In an economy that is shrinking, where most people do not earn anything in terms of their investments, banks are making profits to the tune of Kshs20 billion. This is an abnormal scenario that needs to be taken care of. The current law takes care of that situation. It does not need to be repealed. 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."
}