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"id": 4081,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4081/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Gitari",
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"speaker": {
"id": 388,
"legal_name": "Joseph Gachoki Gitari",
"slug": "joseph-gitari"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want the Government to use its machinery. I also want to use this opportunity to remind my friend Dr. Khalwale that he owes the people of Kirinyaga Central an apology for coming to support my opponent during the by-election. This Motion needs to be supported by all of us. It is important to urge the Executive arm to know what happens on the ground and understand the feelings of the farmers. We want the Government to support farmers by waiving the loans by farmers. We know that farmers are heavily burdened. We know that they have loans from financial institutions. With the current inflation and the rise in interest rates, most farmers face auctioneers day in, day out. So, my plea is that we support this Motion, so that we cushion farmers. This is not the first time that this is happening because we know that in times of adverse effects, this Government has been handy in cushioning our farmers. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, as a way forward, let us empower tea producers, so that production is guaranteed instead of waiting to rescue them when it is already too late. It is high time that the Government came with a policy because as Dr. Khalwale has said, when we went to the UK, the Government was cushioning some people. Kenya will not be the same because farmers in more developed parts of the world are cushioned by their governments, especially when affected by bad weather. In Kirinyaga County, for example, we have five tea factories. Farmers are owed Kshs4 billion. Just the other day, they received their bonuses. However, January next year, they will borrow money from banks and SACCOs. So, by end of January, they will be owed Kshs2.4 billion. Some of us who come from tea farming areas have come this far, including to Parliament, because our farmers went to the banks, got loans and educated us. It is now our chance to give back to the community. We are urging the Government to waive the loans. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, due to increase in interest rates and the cost of living, it will be a good thing to cushion farmers. This is because unless we cushion the farmers, we will leave them to be beggars, because by June auctioneers will be waiting for them."
},
{
"id": 4082,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4082/?format=api",
"text_counter": 361,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Gitari",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 388,
"legal_name": "Joseph Gachoki Gitari",
"slug": "joseph-gitari"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I have said that some of us like hon. Kareke Mbiuki, the Assistant Minister, come from a place where a lot of tea is grown. It will be a great thing for him to consider this Motion, because we know what is happening from the places that we come from. Farmers are burdened. They cannot afford to pay school fees. So, what are we producing in Kenya? If these farmers are unable to take our brothers and sisters to school, then we expect in another five years to have very many people who are uneducated and they will turn to crime."
},
{
"id": 4083,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4083/?format=api",
"text_counter": 362,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Gitari",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 388,
"legal_name": "Joseph Gachoki Gitari",
"slug": "joseph-gitari"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, this has been done previously. Although this Motion is for effecting an amendment, we know that this House in the past has passed that coffee farmers be cushioned, although that was not enough. So, we will not be doing it for the first time. What we are saying is that we can also cushion the tea farmers, so that when they are doing tea farming they can learn from the basics and make the tea sub- sector more productive. It can just be like any other business."
},
{
"id": 4084,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4084/?format=api",
"text_counter": 363,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Gitari",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 388,
"legal_name": "Joseph Gachoki Gitari",
"slug": "joseph-gitari"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if the Government comes in and rescues the farmers this time, then by the end of the first quarter of next year, when the interest rates will be regularised, they will be able to pay."
},
{
"id": 4085,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4085/?format=api",
"text_counter": 364,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Gitari",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 388,
"legal_name": "Joseph Gachoki Gitari",
"slug": "joseph-gitari"
},
"content": "I beg to second."
},
{
"id": 4086,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4086/?format=api",
"text_counter": 365,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Question proposed)"
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{
"id": 4087,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4087/?format=api",
"text_counter": 366,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kabogo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 162,
"legal_name": "William Kabogo Gitau",
"slug": "william-kabogo"
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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker for allowing me to catch your eye. I rise to support this very important Motion, but I do so with an amendment which, I would want to move and contribute at the same time. I beg to move that the Motion be amended as follows:-"
},
{
"id": 4088,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4088/?format=api",
"text_counter": 367,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kabogo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 162,
"legal_name": "William Kabogo Gitau",
"slug": "william-kabogo"
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"content": "“by inserting the words “and coffee” after the word “tea” wherever it appears in the Motion, and by deleting the word “is” appearing immediately after the word “farming” in the first line and replacing it with the word “are”. That amendment will be supported after my contribution by hon. Mwathi."
},
{
"id": 4089,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4089/?format=api",
"text_counter": 368,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kabogo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 162,
"legal_name": "William Kabogo Gitau",
"slug": "william-kabogo"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I support this Motion because it is meant to help the farmers of Kenya, more so tea and coffee farmers. Many years ago, coffee and tea were the largest foreign exchange earners in the Republic Kenya. However, due to the debt burden and other technical inputs, coffee and tea have become minor contributors of foreign exchange. If the debt relief is given to both tea and coffee farmers, it will go a long way in helping the industry. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, you will have noticed in the recent past that coffee and tea farmers are abandoning coffee and tea farming and going into the more lucrative real estate development. This is purely because the earnings in farming are less than those in the real estate industry. So, taking over debts of coffee and tea farmers will come a long way in boosting coffee and tea farming, which will bring in foreign exchange which is vital. You have seen in the recent past how the Dollar, Euro and other major currencies have behaved. If we had lots of coffee and tea exports, this would cushion the Dollar and retain all the international currencies at levels that are reasonable for international trade. You will also see that in developed countries like the United States of America (USA), the production of milk and farm produce is far beyond what those countries can use. Those countries give subsidies to farmers. You will find dairy products in USA stored for 20 years. The Government goes to the extent of funding storage of food for 20 years. When the produce is good here, you will find that farmers have to part with their produce at very cheap or low prices. In those countries you will find that prices are almost stable because the Government comes in to subsidize farmers and so, farming becomes a continually productive exercise. You will also see that if people abandon tea and coffee farming in the Republic, we will be saying: “To hell with employment of our youth and people in the rural areas.” This is because, for example, in Kiambu County where there is a lot of coffee, people are uprooting coffee now to build houses for sale. You will see that coffee has employed people right from when I was born in the 1960s up to now. The same plantation is employing the rural community, but when the Chinese companies come to take over and build real estate, they come with their own labour. Therefore, it is important to cater for tea and coffee farming for the purpose of employment of our youth and the people in the rural constituencies. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, with those few remarks, I want to move the amendment and ask the Member for Limuru to second it."
},
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Laboso",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Deputy Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 63,
"legal_name": "Joyce Cherono Laboso",
"slug": "joyce-laboso"
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"content": " We need to dispense of with the amendment, so that we can discuss the substantive Motion."
}
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}