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{
    "id": 1278499,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1278499/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 218,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Caleb Amisi (",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "reducing the cost of running the boards and making them more effective. We have the Kenya Dairy Board and the KEPHIS, which is dominant in my constituency. One of their plants is in my constituency. They also have vast land there. I have seen their work in the field of testing the health of imported seeds before they are released to farmers. We used to have the Kenya Agriculture Reforms and Innovations (KARI) which was doing the same thing as KEPHIS. Some of the functions were transferred to the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) which is more effective. We also have Pests Control Board, Fertilisers and Animal Food Stuff Board, and the National Biosafety Authority. I agree with the intent of this Bill. It proposes to collapse all these institutions into one. It is more effective to have it as one entity with various departments relating to different areas of operation in terms of food, animal feeds, or seeds. The most important thing is to ensure that whatever comes into this country meets the safety standards pertaining to human consumption. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I support the Bill for trying to bring most of these agencies and the boards together. It is also paramount to note that most of the time when we pass Bills in this Parliament, we do not take so much cognisance of operationalisation of some of the authorities that we intend to form. We recently had to repeal a Bill on social assistance of the vulnerable in our society, just two years after it was passed by Parliament. We did it because it was impossible to operationalise that board. The authority that was envisaged to be formed could not get the much-needed funding from the Government. The continuous enactment of several Bills that eventually land into a dustbin or on some shelves and are not implemented by ministries has always been our major undoing as Parliament. This is also a wake-up call to this Parliament, that we should not pass laws too quickly, whether emotionally or out of national popularity. We need to look at how we will use them. As we pass them, we need to envisage a future that we have an organisation that is well catered for, in terms of Exchequer funding and will stand the test of time. The onus is on this Parliament to make sure that the Bills that we pass here meet the quality standard of establishment. There must be in place proper mechanisms, staffing, and funding. We should not pass Bills to excite the crowds and Kenyans, and then later come back to repeal them. Remember we collapsed some of the organisations due to lack of funding meant for operations. Some of these moribund organisations look like they exist, but they do not. They only exist on paper. In real sense, some of them are used as conduits of corruption. This is where donor funds are directed or misdirected for consumption by a few people. We also need to know the operationalisation of some of these entities that are formed by an Act of Parliament, legal notice, or Executive orders. We need to know the need and prevailing circumstances upon which they are formed. They later become moribund and are used wrongly by unscrupulous officials. Most of the allocations in some of these ministries are located in makeshift organisations. Since they have found a loophole in an Act of Parliament that establishes the authorities and boards, they, certainly, have a legal standing to direct money there. This is how money from various ministries go to waste. I support this Bill but with a caution. As we pass laws in this House to establish a coordination body or an authority, we must also know how we will fund it and the nature of staffing. If you walk in some organisations, you will find all the members of staff - from the chief executive officer to the sweeper - are from one tribe. Because it is an activity based in a region, people assume that if it is something to do with maize, then this has to be in the Rift Valley and if it is sugar, it has to be in Western Kenya and so forth. Therefore, it becomes a tribal entity. You find that all people who work there, from the CEO downwards, are from one tribe. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we also need to know if these entities are going to meet even the national cohesion parameters of making sure that all Kenyans get a chance to be part and parcel of them. All Kenyans need to contribute to the well-being of the society."
}