{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=138573","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=138571","results":[{"id":1402131,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402131/?format=json","text_counter":200,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Cheruiyot","speaker_title":"The Senate Majority Leader","speaker":{"id":13165,"legal_name":"Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot","slug":"aaron-cheruiyot"},"content":"It is not about saying. I do not serve in committees. It is you, the Members, who serve in committees. I want reports of committees amending those provisions, which I will support. It is unfair that you have the Principal Secretary (PS) for the National Treasury a representative of the Attorney-General. These are people who think in a particular way, facing off against one individual to represent the interests of counties. This is not fair. We are failing in our duty as a Senate. As a Committee, you have a responsibility to go through a legislation such as this. I do not expect you to return to the House a report okaying such provisions. Reduce on that. I have told you that in many of these boards, people just sit down and copy and paste without applying their minds and appreciating that Kenya has since moved. The devolved system of government is here to stay. Therefore, I hope that when we consider such legislations, at least we will see near equal, if not equal number of representatives between the national Government and county governments, especially if it is a body that will oversee operations of activities that touch on the functions of both counties and the national Government. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1402132,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402132/?format=json","text_counter":201,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Cheruiyot","speaker_title":"The Senate Majority Leader","speaker":{"id":13165,"legal_name":"Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot","slug":"aaron-cheruiyot"},"content":"Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those many remarks, I beg to move and request the Senator for Nandi, Sen. Cherarkey, who probably knows what an aviator site is because he is younger than me, to second."},{"id":1402133,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402133/?format=json","text_counter":202,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Cherarkey","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13217,"legal_name":"Cherarkey K Samson","slug":"cherarkey-k-samson"},"content":"Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to congratulate the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Cheruiyot, the Senator for Kericho, for moving this Bill. On a lighter touch, I hope he talks to the Majority Leader in the National Assembly to be fast-tracking our Bills, the way we do here religiously. The only time I have interacted with gambling was when listening to Kenny Rogers who used to sing country music. He sang a song called Coward of the County . The song says that every gambler has his own day and time. When we listen to Sundowner, especially on Sunday evening, that is when we interact with gambling. In my opening remarks in quick succession, it is high time we brought order and sanity in the gambling sector. I remember during the last session, the Ministry of Interior and National Administration brought an omnibus amendment on taxation on winnings and that became a big problem. At that time, we had SportPesa and Betika, among others, complaining. They felt that they were being taxed double. However, they were not declaring their winnings at that time."},{"id":1402134,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402134/?format=json","text_counter":203,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Loud consultations)"},{"id":1402135,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402135/?format=json","text_counter":204,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Cherarkey","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13217,"legal_name":"Cherarkey K Samson","slug":"cherarkey-k-samson"},"content":"Mr. Speaker, Sir, please, protect me from the Commissioners who have a problem with the Bunge Tower. I do not want to go there. I know they are firefighting after I came here guns-blazing today at Midday."},{"id":1402136,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402136/?format=json","text_counter":205,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Laughter)"},{"id":1402137,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402137/?format=json","text_counter":206,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Cherarkey","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13217,"legal_name":"Cherarkey K Samson","slug":"cherarkey-k-samson"},"content":"We need to bring order in the sector. The only problem we have been having is that the Government does not know what gamblers and gambling companies do. Gamblers themselves are not honest. I know that in other religions, it is not good to gamble and we respect that. There is need to widen our tax base network. In fact, as part of a deterrent measure, we should tax gambling, especially on winnings, instead of taxing other essentials, it will reduce taxation. I know the reason Sen. Faki is excited. We need to tax gamblers more because if you are gambling, it means you already have your essentials or basics. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that it is done mostly by young people. I am sure most of us here, who are politicians, receive messages from people asking for Kshs30, Kshs200 or Kshs1,000. People who are experts in gambling will always know that a person intends to gamble. It is not about food, but gambling. Gambling is addictive. Our condolence to Sen. Cheruiyot and the people of Kericho for losing a young man who lost over Kshs150,000 through gambling. He had to commit suicide. That shows this is a serious issue. Shisha and gambling are addictive, just like any other desire. Moving to Clause 4(g), I agree on the issue of conducting anti-money laundering and risk-based inspections. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1402138,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402138/?format=json","text_counter":207,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Cherarkey","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13217,"legal_name":"Cherarkey K Samson","slug":"cherarkey-k-samson"},"content":"Mr. Speaker, Sir, as you are aware, we are having a regional meeting in Nairobi. His Excellency the President is the Patron. We are launching Plan No.5 on National Action Plan in Legislative Openness. Kenya is gray in terms of illicit money. It has been found that Kenya has a big problem when it comes to money laundering. My advice to the country is that we must be careful with the issue of money laundering and illicit money in the economy because the moment you are blacklisted, you can never trade outside this country. This is a serious issue and I agree that we must come up with measures to curb money laundering. I remember a few years ago, when we had the issue of piracy money, it became a serious issue until we enacted a money laundering law. Therefore, I agree that there should be a way, so that gambling is not used to launder proceeds of illicit money. Brazil is a very beautiful country. I have been there on several occasions, especially on issues of agriculture and others. I do not want colleagues to look at me suspiciously. I went there on issues of agricultural imports of machinery. That is the beauty about Brazil. I do not look at other things. As you are aware, many years ago, in Brazil, there was what is called the “Car Wash Scandal”. There are corruption allegations that some senior government officials used to steal money to use in a car wash. Interestingly, the story is that it was next to government buildings. They were using the car wash scandal to try and do money laundering. There are instances where gambling companies are using that. Mr. Speaker, Sir, so that I allow other colleagues to speak, in seconding this Bill, I would like to make about three comments on Clause 64. They are also saying that a vendor may be granted a right to operate a casino and other forms of business. We need to agree on where we should build gambling machines. Should we have them next to a shopkeeper or where maize is being milled? I know that in Vihiga, where Sen. Osotsi comes from, when you put a casino near a maize milling machine, there is no problem. However, if you do that in other areas, somebody can go without food. We have heard of cases where eggs disappear mysteriously because people steal eggs to go and sell. There is a famous egg that was common to be stolen. It was a small one, which was yellow in colour. I think it was made in China. Many eggs were being lost in the villages because young men and women were taking them. The question is; what should we do? Perhaps we should think of regions or geographical areas, just like we have zoning of bars. There is a distance they should be located from schools. Perhaps the presence of tourists in counties like Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale, among others, should be based on cultural and religious distribution. I talked about that earlier on. There are some religions that abhor gambling. There are incidents and social consequences of compulsive and addictive gambling. I think it is an addiction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), addiction is a disease and not an offence. I agree with the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Cheruiyot. He said that gambling companies should undertake to build rehabilitation centres and put programmes in place. The way we demand of people who sell illicit brews and drugs, they must develop rehab centres because gambling is another addiction. To be honest, I know many young people who might not find this comfortable. Are you aware that in this City and across the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1402139,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402139/?format=json","text_counter":208,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Cherarkey","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13217,"legal_name":"Cherarkey K Samson","slug":"cherarkey-k-samson"},"content":"country, there are young people who survive on betting earnings? They have to bet to pay rent and live large. When you go to Kilimani and some of these estates, you will see them parking the likes of LX 600. They live large and wear expensive watches and designer clothes nakufanya sherehe kila mahali . Some of them are doing it based on earnings, but it is not predictable. We need the sector to be regulated. If you win, we must tax you, so that when you buy your LX 600, you should get a good road to drive on and get water in your apartment or even affordable housing that the President is pushing for. In fact, we must bring order on job creation. I saw a company in Westlands, where some young people whom we interact with daily winning, but when they go to the company to claim, they refuse to pay them their money after winning. I am trying to get the name of that gambling company in Westlands. So, where is the recourse? Mr. Speaker, Sir, you and the Senior Counsel seated opposite you are among the senior lawyers in this Republic. They say, when you go to Koinange or other places, and decide to quench your desires, when you “do not pay”, you cannot run to court to demand payment for such services because it is considered illegal, immoral and unlawful. Does the gambling in some of the culture and religion---"},{"id":1402140,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402140/?format=json","text_counter":209,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Kingi","speaker_title":"The Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Senator for Nandi County, would you wish to be informed by the Senator for Mombasa County?"}]}