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{
    "id": 1042262,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1042262/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 42,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ndwiga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 278,
        "legal_name": "Peter Njeru Ndwiga",
        "slug": "peter-ndwiga"
    },
    "content": "While I served as the Vice-Chairperson of that Committee, we traversed this country and talked to tea farmers in the whole Republic from Kisii, Kericho, Murang’a and Embu. We heard the cries of the tea farmers of this country. It is as a result of those meetings that the Ad Hoc Committee introduced a Bill which was passed by this House in June, 2019. Mr. Speaker, Sir, among the cries of the tea farmers was that the Kenya Tea Developers Agency (KTDA), which manages their tea factories had become so opaque that they did not know what was happening in the operations of the tea sector. I am happy and I thank God that I am still alive because when we created the Kenya Tea Development Agency from the then Kenya Tea Development Authority, it was a very fierce battle. Those who were in Parliament then like Sen. Orengo and Sen. Wetangula will remember that this was a fierce battle. Mark you that most of us from the tea growing areas were in the opposition and had to form an organization then called the Coffee and Tea Parliamentary Association (COTEPA), which campaigned vigorously to have the establishment of the Agency. The ideals then were that the tea farmers of this country will have an organization that they own and which would have democratic leadership. They wanted an organization that will be transparent and which will culminate in them earning livable income. Unfortunately, many years after the Agency was formed, that has not come to pass. When we went around the country, we realized that wherever we went and talked to the managers of the tea factories in Kisii, Kericho, Murang’a and Embu, it was very apparent that the management of the tea factories were speaking for KTDA. Therefore, when we called the Kenya Tea Development Agency to come to the Senate Committee during public participation, we voiced our concerns because that is where we started losing it. Tea farmers in this country elect members amongst themselves to go and run their tea factories. However, when these members are elected and go to the tea factories as directors, the KTDA appropriates them as directors of KTDA. That leaves the farmers with no voice. This is what must change. The reason we have this Bill and the amendments is because we want to rectify that situation. I thank the Members of the National Assembly. After the Bill left the Senate, they did a lot of work and introduced quite a number of amendments. I also thank the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Peter Munya, who also introduced many amendments through the National Assembly. I wish to thank them because I know that the National Assembly went out to meet farmers just like we had done. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what I do not want lost is that the farmers must know that it is this House that realized, way back in 2018, soon after we were elected to this House, that something was amiss in the tea sector. It is this House that started the process of reforms in the tea sector. When this House passed the Motion to form the Ad Hoc Committee into the Challenges Facing the Tea Sector in Kenya, that was the beginning of the tea reforms in this country. I am emphasizing this because we are hearing so many masqueraders, who are saying that they are the ones who are pushing, that they have been to the courts"
}