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{
"id": 1067293,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1067293/?format=api",
"text_counter": 123,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kajiado North, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Joseph Manje",
"speaker": {
"id": 1669,
"legal_name": "Joseph Wathigo Manje",
"slug": "joseph-wathigo-manje"
},
"content": "I, the undersigned, on behalf of leather and leather products investors and interested stakeholders in the country, draw the attention of the House to the following: THAT, the Kenya Leather Development Council (KLDC) is a State corporation established under the Kenya Leather Development Council Order 2011 vide Legal Notice No. 114 of 2011 under the State Corporations Act. The Council is a specialised agency that provides advisory services on matters relating to processing and trading of hides, skins, leather and leather goods, oversees licensing in the leather subsector, enhances leather marketing strategies, and regulates, harmonises, coordinates and facilitates the growth of the leather industry in the country; THAT, KLDC was formed on a private-public partnership to represent the interests of the leather sector with representation drawn from the Kenya Livestock Marketing Council, Slaughter Houses Association, hides and skins traders, tanners, footwear manufacturers, informal leather manufacturers and the academia; THAT, the Council was initially placed under the Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprises Development where the leather sector was categorised as a flagship industry, before being transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock where its core mandate of leather promotion is largely ignored or under-funded; THAT, recent appointments of board members and the Council’s senior management have been unfairly skewed towards a particular region of the country, which has shifted the Council’s focus from promotion of leather and leather products manufacturing to hides and skins improvement, which is essentially a devolved function; THAT, the Council’s senior management has been undertaking unauthorised recruitment of staff, and has presided over the closure of three tanneries, the massive decline in industry exports earnings, the increase of imported footwear deliberately mislabeled as second-hand footwear, the shrinking of the market for semi-processed leather and the general marketing and growth crisis currently facing the leather industry in the country THAT, the Council has failed to adhere to prescribed Government regulations by commencing construction of four warehouses in Kinanie, Machakos County under the Kenya Leather Industrial Park Programme at a cost of Kshs1.2 billion on a site that is yet to be surveyed and which belongs to the Export Processing Zones Authority; THAT, efforts to have the matter resolved by the Kenya Leather Development Council and other authorities have not borne any fruits. THAT, the matters raised in this petition are not pending in any court of law in Kenya. Now therefore, your humble petitioners pray that the National Assembly, through the Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Co-operatives: (i) investigates the matter with a view to recommending urgent transfer of oversight of the Kenya Leather Development Council from the State Department for Livestock to the State Department for Industrialisation; (ii) ascertains the qualifications of board members and the Council’s senior management as well as their commitment towards improvement of the leather industry; (iii) investigates the controversial construction of warehouses on over 100 acres of land belonging to the Export Processing Zones Authority, the possible irregular reallocation of funds meant for Common Effluent Treatment Plant towards the construction of the warehouses, and the procurement and general planning of the project; and, (iv) makes any other recommendation that it deems fit in the circumstances of the petition."
}