• Legislator says virus disruption will see most Kenyans fail to earn their wages and salaries, as usual, wants Majority leader to write to speaker for special sitting.
• He said the recovered corruption money, World Bank donations and tax profits among others can be used for this purpose.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
Nyali MP Mohammed Ali has called for legislative interventions to guard Kenyans against being evicted over delayed rent payments during the coronavirus outbreak.
Covid-19 has disrupted the economic, social and political activities across the globe.
Ali said this disruption will make most Kenyans fail to earn their wages and salaries as usual.
“This will, in turn, most probably make them delay the payment of rent or fail to do so completely."
Thus a need for protection measures for, especially poor Kenyans, until the pandemic is over, Ali said.
In a letter to National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale on Monday, Ali said there is a need to put up measures to cushion Kenyans against the negative economic effects of the pandemic.
He wants Duale to write to the Speaker to call for a special sitting for the House to consider more ways of cushioning Kenyans from the effects of the virus.
According to Standing Orders, only the Majority and the Minority leaders of the House have the powers to write to the Speaker on any matter.
“It is a time like now that the National Assembly needs to play its constitutional mandate by putting in place fiscal measures through legislative interventions or other mechanisms to assist vulnerable Kenyans that have been forced out of employment, are unemployed or are underprivileged and require government assistance for survival,” Ali says in the letter.
The MP hit out at politicians taking advantage of the situation to fight for political points by distributing branded sanitiser to their constituents.
He said it is not practical to distribute some packets of food to a few people and claim to have helped.
“No one can feed the poor for even a week. Not an MP, not a governor. That’s why we need a legislative framework."
Adding, “This is no time to play populist politics. Branding items you give to the poor is immoral. In Nigeria, billionaires are contributing money to the fight against the pandemic but they don’t show off."
He called on Kenyans to be their brothers’ keepers.
At least 20,000 Kenyans have been forced out of work, with flower firms alone laying off over 2,000 employees.
Hotels continue to close as the negative effects of the Covid-19 delivers crushing blows to the economy.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced a raft of measures to save jobs and the country’s economy.
These include slashed liquidity ratios, lowered interest rates and a myriad of tax reductions and cuts that are meant to help small and medium enterprises stay afloat.
On Monday, Ali said the current measures put in place including the curfew, stay at home directives and quarantine among others can only be effective with measures to help Kenyans access food and subsistence allowances.
“We might also need to approve budgetary allocations and tax measures to assist the Ministry of Health to procure additional ventilators and any other necessary medical equipment that may be required."
The lawmaker said the government is able to feed the poor in the country if it is focused.
He said the recovered corruption money, World Bank donations and tax profits among others can be used for this purpose.
Edited by R.Wamochie