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{
    "id": 1042356,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1042356/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 136,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatangi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 646,
        "legal_name": "Paul Kimani Wamatangi",
        "slug": "paul-kimani-wamatangi"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the amendments and the Bill itself. I would also like to congratulate the Committee, Sen. Cheruiyot and the rest of the Senators who participated in the Committee and the sub-Committee. One of the biggest problems that we have had in this country is the marketing and sale of cash crops that have a value chain that does not necessarily require local sales, but benefit more from global sales is lack of transparency. That is what has ailed most of the cash crop industries including the tea industry. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is unfortunate that the value chain in the sale of cash crops with tea being a major cash crop is the top down value chain. The biggest beneficiaries are at the top and the lowest at the bottom. I do not want to be repetitive, but all of us have had this experience. I once visited a marketer in the United Kingdom (UK) who happens to hail from one of the towns in Asia, a place called Kerala, where tea is also grown. In the house of the marketer that I visited, I found sacks and sacks of tea. However, the ones he held most is Kenyan tea which is not only blended with other teas, but it is repackaged under foreign names. I was amused to see that a tea called Lipton which sells greatly in the international market is actually Kenyan tea. Kenyan tea is bought and repacked with their brand. It is said and known that when you are taking Lipton tea, you are taking Indian or Asian tea, but that is not the case. I support this Bill because I know that the farmers in Kiambu County, especially Lari, Gatundu North and South, Limuru and other parts of Kiambu as well as tea farmers in the whole country have been waiting for a long time for this day when their voice can be heard. As one of colleagues stated, this can be a wakeup call to governors that since agriculture is a devolved function, to take this Bill up once it has been passed so that they can rally the small scale farmers and support them so their voice is heard against the loud voice of the conglomerates. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when I was growing up in Kericho County where Sen. Cheruiyot comes from, there is used to be a season when many people would migrate from other parts of the country to Kericho; that time was called bonus time---"
}