HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1567392,
"next": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=156516",
"previous": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=156514",
"results": [
{
"id": 1583342,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583342/?format=api",
"text_counter": 300,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " The Member for Kesses."
},
{
"id": 1583343,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583343/?format=api",
"text_counter": 301,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Hon. (Dr) Robert Pukose spoke off the record)"
},
{
"id": 1583344,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583344/?format=api",
"text_counter": 302,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kesses, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Rutto",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for recognising me. I want to remind my good brother and senior from Endebess, Hon. Pukose, that being a member of the Committee I am happy to get an opportunity to weigh in on the information that we derived from stakeholders. It is true to say the market is dynamic. I appreciate this country for recognising that there are some things you cannot change. We say change is constant. One of the changes we cannot avoid is the aspect that the market is ever changing. The whole world is shifting. It came from steel money to stable coins to paper money to card money and now we are using digital money through M-Pesa and other platforms. As we speak, the market has shifted further to virtual assets where you store your value in an asset that is not visible. Something that astonished us when we engaged with stakeholders is that we learned a lot that this market has been existing for some time and the value transacted goes into trillions of US dollars. This is something that we cannot avoid. Something to note on the Floor of the House is that there are countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and many others that have accepted this as a medium of exchange, where you transact virtually and derive value by obtaining commodities in the market for your consumption. Therefore, this brought about the need for Kenya to adopt it in an unofficial manner. It is in use because many Kenyans and business people are in it and many great people who have been investing in other aspects of investments have even spread their risk portfolio to virtual assets. We, therefore, need to organise this market because the risk that comes with it is that there is no place or point where you can reference. There is also no physical office or structure to go to whenever you have an issue to inquire, obtain information, or even petition your complaints whenever you have a case arising out of it. This Bill will, therefore, put in place infrastructure that will organise the market into a tangible physical point where someone can be seen, engaged and issues addressed. I urge this House that as we look into it this is something that we must embrace since it is the way the world is going. If big economies like the United States, United Kingdom and South Africa in Africa, which is an economy we can refer to within our African boundaries have adopted it, Kenya should be proud that we have opted in as the fourth in line. We should adopt it, encourage and onboard many people to invest in a secure manner. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informationpurposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1583345,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583345/?format=api",
"text_counter": 303,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kesses, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Rutto",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The only challenge we ought to speak about is to encourage the CBK to up its game and undertake sufficient research because the risk that has come out of this discussion is how our economy will be protected and the value of our currency, the fiat money that we transact with. Those are some of the issues CBK needs to up its game so that it can protect our legal tender. The current exchange rate between the dollar and Kenya shilling has stabilised at around Ksh128. We should look at how we shall stabilise our currency as we go the virtual way. We are all aware that the other day the Cabinet resolved that there will be no more creation of authorities. The Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill will establish an authority to manage these assets, besides the CBK and CMA that have been managing the security markets in terms of shares, bonds and treasury bills. This sector has a unique characteristic that will require a unique board or authority with sufficient technical knowledge to manage. This authority will require knowledge from CMA, CBK and Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) for the sole purpose of organising the market well and protect consumers. We should not forget that recently we passed the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism Financing Laws (Amendment) Bill in this House that was signed into law. The law ensures that the virtual assets sector cannot be misused to conduct money laundering that I have heard someone calling wash wash to transact illegal money from another country. These are issues that have to be looked at so that we avoid issues to do with money laundering through this particular asset. I support this Bill and appreciate my Chairman for providing leadership, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah, and my colleague Members of the Committee. It was a very difficult subject, but I am happy we are here. However, I need to note that we had a challenge. I appreciate our team of legal staff. The drafters of this Bill, the National Treasury gave us a Bill that would make you sorry. I do not know who drafted it. I am not aware whether the Attorney-General looked at it or not. It had many repetitions, inconsistent words and words that could not be legalised. During the Committee of the whole House when the Chairman will be moving, we will note and appreciate amendments in almost all clauses. We urge them to prepare Bills well before they submit them to this House. It is a lot of work to redraft a Bill instead of looking at the issues raised by stakeholders and moving forward with a Bill that is well organised. Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
},
{
"id": 1583346,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583346/?format=api",
"text_counter": 304,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " The Whip of the Minority Party followed by Member for Endebess."
},
{
"id": 1583347,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583347/?format=api",
"text_counter": 305,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. I thank the Leader of the Majority Party for bringing this timely Bill. The Leader of the Majority Party indicated when moving the Bill that virtual assets are digital presentations of value that are capable of being traded or transferred. Because they are not physical assets, there are many issues that are likely to arise. Some of the things that Members have said is the heightened risk of money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, market manipulation and operational and cyber security vulnerabilities. There is also the issue of lack of regulation which I am happy that with this The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informationpurposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1583348,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583348/?format=api",
"text_counter": 306,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona",
"speaker": null,
"content": "law there will be an aspect of regulation. Another issue is the market and operational risks that include price volatility and as I had indicated, the issue of cyber security. I will comment very briefly on some of the things that this Bill speaks to. It designates a regulatory authority, which is a very good thing. This is because this is a sector that is not aptly regulated. Because of that, it becomes very difficult to differentiate between legitimate virtual assets operations and what has come to be known in Kenya as wash wash . There are many people who after getting money under very questionable circumstances suddenly want to be elected to Parliament and get into positions of authority where they presume they will hide their money. The other good thing that this Bill does is to provide licensing requirements so that it is not a free-for-all. Through licensing, we will know who we are dealing with and this will enable us deal with the cyber threats we are talking about. I am happy that Clauses 21, 22, 23, up to 24 of this Bill talk about ethical issues such as businesses to be conducted in a prudent manner with integrity and issues of conflict of interest. Another notable issue is that it also provides for criminal offences and penalties for people who misuse this platform. When we passed the Data Protection Act, I thought we were being melodramatic. I understood why there was need for data protection last year when we had the Gen Z issue and my number was shared. I got messages and calls every hour despite the fact that I was not considered bad but rather a favourite at that time. I wondered if I was a favourite and I got that kind of messaging, what about those who were not liked? I was forced…"
},
{
"id": 1583349,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583349/?format=api",
"text_counter": 307,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Like the Hon. Temporary Speaker."
},
{
"id": 1583350,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583350/?format=api",
"text_counter": 308,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Millie-Odhiambo Mabona",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Yes. I was forced to get a temporary new number because I could not cope. I hired a Gen Z to manage my phone and paid a monthly salary. After a month, he returned my number and told me, “you, your money and phone, I cannot deal.” Look at the case of Albert Ojwang’s father. He was talking about money disappearing. We are almost talking in the virtual space. We are not talking about hard currency. If you wanted to steal my money in the past, you needed to get a gun, get where the money was, and shoot. Since we are dealing in a different era, it becomes very easy for somebody just to know how to tweak things and steal from you. We have an amazing number of highly educated young people in Kenya. Many of them would benefit if we regularised use of virtual assets and they could work within the sector. As we move forward technologically, the challenge is that we risk leaving certain areas behind particularly rural areas like my constituency. People there have no clue what you are talking about when they hear people talking about virtual assets. We still use the hard currency. I would like to encourage the Committee to note that some of the things we are speaking to is ensuring technological equity so that we have more people engaging on these platforms and we carry everybody forward. I do not know whether the Committee has done it. I see the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill is before us. I do not know whether the Committee considered calling it the Virtual Asset Service Providers and Users Bill. We should not only talk to providers but to users as well. You are speaking to users while talking about protecting people’s data and their virtual assets. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informationpurposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1583351,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583351/?format=api",
"text_counter": 309,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Millie-Odhiambo Mabona",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I read the Bill halfway. I will propose amendments if there are any issues that I would need to look at. So far, the main concern I have identified is the need of technological equity and inclusion of users alongside providers. Otherwise, I thank the Committee. I also thank the Parliament of Kenya. Much as we are castigated many times, we are really ahead of many counterparts even across the world. I was invited to a conference in South Africa recently. They were talking about issues related to the Bill I am sponsoring. Although our Bill is still at the Committee of the whole House stage, I discovered that we are ahead of others. People are looking up to Kenya. One lady shared with me that they attempted to draft a similar Bill in Nigeria, only to realise it was my Bill word for word. In fact, they forgot until they used terminology that was clearly Kenyan. The person who was reviewing the Bill said, “This is not Nigerian. This is Kenyan”. The systems were clearly Kenyan. I laud us as the legislative arm of Government for the excellent work we do. Similarly, we encourage the Executive arm not to fail us. Implementation must be just as effective as our legislative efforts once we put this law in place. I thank the Committee. I support the Bill."
}
]
}