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{
    "id": 974760,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/974760/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 257,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mumias East, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Benjamin Washiali",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 151,
        "legal_name": "Benjamin Jomo Washiali",
        "slug": "benjamin-washiali"
    },
    "content": "I have been looking at the business laws that are being amended. There is one particular area that I wish is improved. It is the issue of inspection of imported goods. We have a big problem. I heard what the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing said. He said that this Bill will ease inspection of imported goods, that is true. On inspection of imported goods, we have a serious problem that we need to look at, especially if we mean to create a conducive atmosphere for doing business in this country. As it is today, our local agency, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), has assigned international companies to inspect goods on its behalf yet after they give approval, when those goods get into the country, they are inspected afresh by KEBS. That is unfair. We should use this opportunity that we have of amending the business laws to amend that section of the law. If the international companies have inspected goods and approved them, why should they be subjected to fresh inspection? When rejected, it becomes expensive for investors and people who want to do business in this county. During the Committee of the whole House, I will propose an amendment to say that once goods have been inspected in foreign countries, they will not be subjected to further inspection here. Otherwise, we will have to allow KEBS to inspect all goods from their points of origin. When goods come here and they are rejected, the companies are forced to repatriate those goods to the countries of origin at their own cost or destroy them at their cost. That is expensive. A case in mind is the edible oils that are currently still lying at the port. These goods were inspected at the point of origin. When they came here, KEBS realised that they did not meet the standards of this country. That was good. However, why could we not have rejected such goods at the point of origin to cushion the importing companies from the cost of carrying those containers all the way to this country only for them to be told that a particular item is missing from the oil? That is unfair. We do not want to create such business atmosphere in this country because it does not promote business."
}