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{
    "id": 992998,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/992998/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 274,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mwaruma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13223,
        "legal_name": "Johnes Mwashushe Mwaruma",
        "slug": "johnes-mwashushe-mwaruma"
    },
    "content": "We had budgets in the county governments. My recommendation would be to let the county executives and assemblies look at the budgets again. Let them pass budgets that would appropriate some money to ensure that the poor and vulnerable people can get a small subsidy or stipend to cater for food. Madam Temporary Speaker, there was a suggestion in the morning that county assemblies are not meeting because of the social distancing issue. As the Senate, we are meeting and the National Assembly is meeting. Why can they not be innovative enough and come up with ways and means of meeting so that they can mitigate the effects of lockdown and loss of jobs for their people? The truth is that people are suffering. There is also loss of income. In the agricultural regions like where I come from, horticultural products are not being exported to foreign countries. There is an economic slump in this area. For the people who are growing nuts like macadamia, the prices have plummeted from around Kshs200 per kilogram and now they are going to between Kshs40 and Kshs50 per kilogram. There is a serious loss of income and these people need to be compensated in some way. Madam Temporary Speaker, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries can come up with modalities of ensuring minimum returns for these people. They have invested in farming and they can be given minimum returns to make sure they repay their loans and feed their families. In the same breath, we would request - I did the same in the early afternoon under a Statement - the Government agencies that are tasked with giving loans and credits to farmers need to slow down in the manner in which they go after the creditors. We gave an example of the Kenya Industrial Estates (KIE) which gives loans and credit to establishments that put agricultural products in the value chain. They need to slow down in the manner in which they demand for loan repayments. We also have the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFCs). If farmers have gotten a produce and it does not access the market because of no flights to the markets abroad, then they will not get income to repay the loans. It is recommended in the Report that there needs to be a moratorium in the manner in which these loans are repaid and defrayed. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is also a drop in revenue. It is clear in the Report that revenue collection has gone down ostensibly because many people have lost their jobs and definitely the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) or Income Tax would go down. We also have many products not reaching the markets and these same people pay Value Added Tax (VAT). Definitely, we are having a slump in our revenue collection. We need as the Senate to think of ways and means of adapting and adopting to the new normal. Some people have started talking the truth. I heard the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), Dr. Mwangangi, the other day say that the new normal is that we must learn to live with COVID-19 the same way we learnt how to live with HIV/AIDS. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}