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{
    "id": 1030368,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1030368/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 62,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Khaniri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 171,
        "legal_name": "George Munyasa Khaniri",
        "slug": "george-khaniri"
    },
    "content": "Cheruiyot. The Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture then informed the Committee that tea as a product attracts 42 different taxes, levies, fees, duties and licenses; 42! The Committee Chairperson, Sen. Cheruiyot, also sponsored legislation on the tea sector in the country; the Tea Bill (Senate Bill No.36 of 2018) which is gathering dust in the National Assembly, so is the Crop Tea Industry Regulations 2020. Mr. Speaker, Sir, for how long will the farmers of Kenya continue to suffer systemic challenges that the Government has solutions to? In conclusion, the Government has failed the tea farmers of Kenya for a long time and this must change to salvage this very critical sector in the country. Tea should not be allowed to face the same fate as coffee and sugar industries. Nations are built by citizens under visionary leadership. The happenings within the tea sector today proves of a leadership that is weak and visionless. As it has always been observed, Kenya has all the solutions to its problems in government papers stored in government offices with nobody to implement. How I wish the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries would have taken the time to examine the findings of and work towards the implementation of the recommendations of the Senate Ad hoc Committee inquiring into the challenges facing the tea sector in Kenya Report. Then, maybe the tea farmers of this country would not have been exposed to the suffering they are experiencing today. I have been informed that in Mudete Tea Factory, the farmers are so frustrated with the amount of bonuses offered that some have refused to pick the money. Some of the recommendations in the report are very straightforward with immediate impact, which the Government can implement. In the past, the government officials have risen to the occasion and made substantive contributions in governance of the country. The most recent one is when a Cabinet Secretary decided and worked to end the perennial malpractices at the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) by eliminating cartels that have propagated national examination cheating for years. Definitely, the cartels in tea sector can also be eliminated in the same way, if the Government so wishes."
}