Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 992674,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/992674/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 651,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kang’ata",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1826,
        "legal_name": "Irungu Kang'ata",
        "slug": "irungu-kangata"
    },
    "content": "It is okay, of course, we must support our employees, we must ensure that their rights are protected. I also agree that the relationship between an employee and employer is always skewed in favor of the employer. The employee usually does not have a very strong bargaining power and also there are so many non-unionized workers who may, therefore, not be able to negotiate better kinds of arrangements. On the other hand, we must also appreciate that employers are also suffering under the current situation. Therefore, if you make it very difficult for the employer, maybe, not to come up with remedial measures, you are going to render this country very uncompetitive in terms of investment. No investor will want to invest in a situation where they cannot take any remedial measures whenever there is a pandemic. You must also understand that we need to lure investors to this country, create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and for me, I am not sure that this section, the way it is crafted in terms of making very difficult for the employer to take any action in instances of pandemic, is the correct way to go. In my view, we need to recast that section so that business owners can at least make some remedial measures whenever we have such kind of a problem. The proposed Clause 29 is on Tenancy Agreements. Again, I have an issue with this area; reason being that I agree with the philosophy underpinning this proposal; the importance of supporting tenants, it makes sense. So many families are unable to pay for their rent; so many workers have been dismissed. Therefore, I urge all landlords to support and come up with measures to ensure that we do not throw out tenants. On the other hand, also, I am very aware of very poor landlords, who have taken loans and do not have any other form of income apart from those investments that they have done by establishing rental units. Therefore, we must come up with a balance that takes into account the interests of the poor tenant and also of the struggling landlords as opposed to a situation where we seem as if we are treating landlords as people who do not deserve any formal protection. In my own view, the way Clause 29 is crafted, I am not so sure it takes all the interests of the parties. Remember, when you talk of investments in rental houses, there is a huge value chain behind a landlord. We have banks, which more often than not finance these kinds of investments. Those banks have employees. The money that the banks have used to loan the landlords also comes from depositors. Therefore, you must be a little bit nuanced when you are making laws that may upset the relationship between a tenant and a landlord. This is because there is a huge value chain, as may be disrupted by such kind of laws."
}