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{
"id": 955062,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/955062/?format=api",
"text_counter": 246,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "North Horr, FAP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Chachu Ganya",
"speaker": {
"id": 18,
"legal_name": "Francis Chachu Ganya",
"slug": "francis-ganya"
},
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to support the Finance Bill. It is an important Bill. It enables our Government to raise revenues to support all activities that it will be engaged in, in the next financial year. It has a deadline of 30th September and so, we do not have much time to pass this Bill. Earlier on, before this Bill was moved, serious issues were raised. Hopefully, the Speaker is going to deliver a ruling on them tomorrow. So, I will not dwell so much on that, but it is important for me to state that for any Bill that we are going to pass in this House, its constitutionality is critical. For those who are engaged in ensuring that this Bill is passed on the Floor of this House, they should be concerned and address the aspect of whether it is constitutional or not. Otherwise, it will be an exercise in futility especially on the two clauses that were clearly mentioned by Members who had reservations. Most of us are convinced that there are serious substantive issues to be addressed in those two clauses. Having said that, I support this Bill. It has good provisions. A number of laws have to be amended to enable the Government to raise revenue. Whereas I do not have a problem with many of them, I have a problem with the Banking Act. They are proposing to remove the capping of interest rates that this House fought so had to pass. The actual law-making is no longer in this House; it is somewhere in State House. This is because after we pass laws in this House, a memorandum is sent here and we are supposed to raise two-thirds majority to veto it. That is almost impossible. In effect, I soundly think that laws are no longer made here. We are here just to facilitate the process for others to do what they need to do in terms of legislating for this country. That is why I have a concern with the Banking Act. From the debates we are hearing across this country, it is likely to go through. I am happy my colleague has taken a strong position on it. If it will go through as proposed in this Bill and the Committee’s Report, we will go back to where we came from many years back. It was a surprise to us when the President signed that Bill into law years back. Then, it was moved by a gracious Member of Parliament, Hon. Jude Njomo. That is my major concern with this Bill together with the issue of constitutionality that I earlier remarked on. There are two elements of this Bill that I am happy about. Coming from the northern part of Kenya where pastoralism is the main livelihood, reduction of taxes on hides and skins will encourage that sector to grow. It is a sector that is neglected. It is highly funded. It used to do well in the 1980s and during the colonial period, but of late it is not. It is known to us that we buy shoes from abroad. Actually, they are imported into the country yet we have so much livestock in many parts of this country. This will enable that sector to grow and our factories will thrive. It will be a good initiative for pastoralists, the people who keep livestock in this country. The Bill is dealing with the issue of the Mau Forest, our water towers and deforestation in this country. For sure, we are facing serious environmental crisis and degradation. The Bill proposes to reduce, to almost zero, taxation on timber imported from outside the country. That will go a long way in enabling the country to recover its forest base, have a forest cover that we desire and protect the Mau Forest. We will not need to look for timber from outside. There are countries that have a lot of timber and they do not know what to do with it, for example, most Nordic countries like Finland and Norway and some countries in Africa. Zero-rating taxation on timber will be a good thing for this country. As somebody with a background on environmental matters, that is something I support. With those few remarks, I support the Bill."
}