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"id": 1030416,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherargei",
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"id": 13217,
"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
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"content": "The fourth point that I want to make is that I agree with the argument that we need to introduce minimum guaranteed returns. I am happy that Sen. Omogeni has received salvation, because some people were blindly supporting the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) for the sake of other things. I am happy that reality is coming up. That is why we say that we should look at the guaranteed minimum returns for the tea, dairy and sugar cane farmers. I know that you come from an area where sugar cane is grown. Sugar cane farming is dead and gone. The tea sector is now in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and the maize sector is in the High Dependency Unit (HDU). In fact, the issue of milk was forgotten. There is a monopoly company that controls 40 per cent of the milk shares in this country and we know who they are. We will name them when the time comes. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we need to agree that the agricultural sector needs reforms, especially the tea sector. I want to warn cartels and other interest groups that slowly want to sneak into the management of the tea sector. They are the same people who gave the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) to the military. When we went round doing public participation on tea regulation, the worry of tea farmers was that if we are not careful, tea farming will be handed over to the military, the way KMC has. If you take the tea sector and hand it over to the military, how will we access tea and yet that is a protected area? Those are challenges that we need to look into, and that is why we will not go back. We must have guaranteed minimum returns on all agribusiness that we have in this country. I have heard that BBI has Article 11 (a) on shared prosperity. When people will be discussing the positions of Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and Deputy President, we will be discussing the issues of tea, milk, sugar cane and many other issues. Finally, so that my colleagues also have an opportunity, the bonuses in the tea sector are worrying. When we were growing up, the only people who would buy brand new Peugeot vehicles were tea and maize farmers. Today, most tea and maize farmers cannot even buy a bicycle, a wheelbarrow or a mkokoteni, yet they were the people who would buy a brand new 504 Peugeot after being paid bonus. In the village, they were the main people. If you were a son of a farmer, you could get a beautiful girl in the village. You could get the best in the village, but unfortunately, now you cannot get even the ‘leftovers’, hata yule ‘amechapa.’ Mr. Speaker, Sir, that shows how the economy has gone down among farmers. The farmers cannot even sustain themselves. They are always lamenting. As a country, using the BBI and the minimum guaranteed returns, this is the right time to address these issues, once and for all. Let us protect our farmers the way protectionist policies have been put in the First World countries. Let us ensure that maize, sugar cane and tea farmers have an opportunity. I hope that the Committee, led by Sen. Ndwiga, will be able to address this issue and put it to rest. The tea farmers are watching. We want the tea sector to be streamlined and transformed into a commercial enterprise. I am happy that almost three quarters of this country grows tea. Therefore, we hope that when the real BBI - because the one that we are being told about looks like mitumba – comes, we will expect nothing but minimum guaranteed returns for all farmers. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}