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{
    "id": 1088306,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1088306/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 195,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "We need to be more definitive in what degree we are talking about. If we are talking about coffee, it must be a degree relevant to crops, more particularly the crop in issue. So, let us not be vague and say a degree from a university recognized in Kenya. We have very weird public officers in this country. A CS will just appoint somebody with a Bachelor’s in witchcraft and say he has a degree recognized in Kenya and he should be let to sit in CBK. So, we need to look at that and see if we can change it. Madam Temporary Speaker, we are in a free-market economy and we should not over-regulate, but bring sanity to the industry. When you over-regulate, you undermine the efficacy of the farmer in producing. There will be too many roadblocks and those licences are normally toll stations and the farmers suffer in the process. For example, in Clause 10, I agree that the Board must perform these functions of regulating and promoting development of the industry, registering coffee dealers and so on. In fact, the regulation, registration and policing must be the pillars. Madam Temporary Speaker, you heard what the Mover said. That there are people who sit at the top and decide what is grade A, B, C and D. They swindle the farmer, export is as one grade and then take the money. Those are the people that you need to focus on. Get what Safaricom calls a mulika mwizi and focus on them, so that you reduce the nefarious activities that hurt the farmer. There is a provision in some clauses that I want the Mover to really look at. The first one is the provision in Clause 23. I think it is just the language. When you say, “each county government shall,” it means that all the 47 counties are obligated, but not all the 47 counties grow coffee. When you say that each county government shall implement the national Government policy relating to coffee, it means that you are going to force Wajir and Mandera counties to implement a coffee policy. I think that you need to find the language. You can say each county government where applicable or where coffee is grown is obligated to enforce the provisions of the clause. This is so that we do not start having the madness we had with the fish ponds. Even with the study showing that in Wajir and Garissa counties, evaporation rates are over 85 per cent, we saw the Government taking money to construct fish ponds there. You put in fingerlings and within two weeks, all the water has evaporated and money had been stolen. However, in in the books of the Government, fish ponds were constructed all over the country. We must have “where it is applicable,” so that it is not everywhere. Madam Temporary Speaker, I also support the need for county governments to engage in quality control which is very good. I have seen a provision where it says that when farmers seek licenses, they should not pay any license fees. That is very important,"
}