Amb. Chirau Mwakwere

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 61 to 70 of 429.

• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. (a) The criteria used for awarding loans to small-scale traders under the trade development Joint Loan Board Scheme are as follows. The applicant must:- 1. be a small-scale trader; 2. be aged 18 years or above; 3. be a Kenyan by citizenship; 4. be operating a licensed business; 5. have operated the business for at least six months; 6. have security or collateral for the loan; 7. be operating in a lockable business premises; that is not operating in the open air; 8. The applicant must be keeping simple books of accounts for ... view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, funds are sent to districts and not locations. It is up to the local leaders, including the Committee that is in place, to inform their people in locations to take interest in trade. It is a question of those who are interested in doing business. The idea here is to give encouragements to both micro and small entrepreneurs to develop their trading skills. As I said, we do not send funds to locations, but to districts. However, distribution of those funds to locations rest in the hands of the Committee and the leaders. view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, that is a very important side question. It is worth noting that this scheme was started way back in 1954 during the colonial days. In most districts in the country, it has fully matured because the arrangement was under the same district that we are considering today. view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: We have the involvement of three councillors----- view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I cannot even hear myself. view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I was saying this scheme was started way back in 1954. In most districts in the country, it has fully matured. We have a record of those who have borrowed since 1962. We have taken every effort to ensure that, it is popularised through local councils, because in every Board there are three councillors who sit as members of a District Joint Loans Board. We took it that through the involvement of councillors, then words spread to wards and locations for the budding entrepreneurs to take advantage of this loan facility. view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is a nominal interest charged. However, it is adjusted by the Ministry from time to time looking at the general financial trend in the country. Right now, we are charging an interest not exceeding 12 per cent. In fact, we fixed it at 12 per cent. It will remain so, until reviewed. view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, we can make changes, but I would like to refer my colleagues to the Local Government Act, Cap.265, Section 104 to Section 106. What I have said is the law. That is the process we are following. But Parliament could make changes as the need arises. Nonetheless, the Board is not just comprised of councillors only. In fact, the Chairman is not a councillor. There are two other members. One of them is a lady. The other member is a man. These two members are not politicians or councillors. So, the disbursement is done very fairly. It ... view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, yes, that could be considered. However, there will be several requirements to be fulfilled, so that in the event of one defaulting in servicing the loan, then the merchandize so identified, would help us recover these revolving funds. view
• 14 Feb 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the amount loaned out ranges from Kshs20,000 to Kshs100,000; the whole objective here is to assist young, micro and small entrepreneurs. When I talk of a micro entrepreneur, I am considering somebody whose annual turnover does not exceed Kshs500,000 and has less than three employees. Essentially, we just assist people to take off; when they reach higher level and they can have their own collateral, they go to commercial banks to borrow big amounts of money and continue contributing to the country’s economy. The objective of these loans is just to get micro and small enterprises take ... view