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{
    "id": 901344,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/901344/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 383,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiminini, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Chris Wamalwa",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "The amendment on the VAT Act that Hon. Limo explained very well is actually a minor issue of input and output tax. Of course, the issue of 6 per cent was introduced so that KRA can get a signal that “X” did business with “Y”. So, KRA gets to know that 6 per cent has been submitted and see whether the remaining 10 per cent has also been submitted or not. That way, KRA will tag the timeframe, so that if you go beyond the limit, you are charged a fine. That is very good. It qualifies as a miscellaneous amendment. However, on the amendment to the Public Finance Management Act, which talks about the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), is so significant that it should not have been sneaked into this Bill. Parliament has attempted to introduce this amendment three times but it failed. This amendment is so significant that it should have come on its own. We have been debating the Parliamentary Service Commission (Amendment) Bill but it reached a point where the public thought it was about increasing salaries of Members of Parliament. We heard His Excellency the President comment on it. Maybe, he made that comment because he had not been informed accordingly. As we speak, the Parliamentary Service Commission (Amendment) Bill is active. We debated it during its Second Reading but it disappeared from the Order Paper. The House Business Committee needs to explain why. Maybe, it was because the temperatures were high. The same objects that are in that Bill have been sneaked into this Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill on the pretence of creating more accounting officers. When you talk of an accounting officer in any institution, it is a significant amendment. That is why I oppose this amendment. If the Parliamentary Service Commission (Amendment) Bill is brought back to the House, we will amend it. You cannot use a statute to amend the Constitution. The PSC is one of the Chapter 15 commissions which are independent. It is just like the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). We know very well that the CEO of the Commission, as a practice, is the Accounting Officer. That is clear under Article 127. It says the Chairman of the Parliamentary Service Commission shall be the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Secretary shall be the Clerk of the Senate. This is in the spirit of the bicameral system. In other words, it is written down here that the Bill is not concerning counties within the meaning of Article 110 of the Constitution but it has an implication on the Senate. This Bill is not being subjected to the Senate particularly because of that section. I was in the leadership in the House Business Committee (HBC) in the other Parliament. This matter came up. We discussed and it was agreed that this import must be discussed by the Senate because it is affecting the Senators. So, we cannot come and sneak it here for purposes of circumventing so that the Senators cannot have a say."
}