Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1349648,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1349648/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 702,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker, for the opportunity to second the Tea (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No.1 of 2023). I do not know whether it is by design or by default that this Bill has been moved and seconded by Senators who come from the counties where tea was first introduced. Tea was first introduced in Limuru in Kiambu County in 1903 and later in Kericho County in 1924. In Kenya, we have 19 tea-growing counties, among them my home county and others. Tea is one of the leading foreign exchanger earners for in this country at 23 percent. That is why this Bill is very important. I want to thank the Mover of this Bill because what this Bill is trying to achieve is just to incentivize value addition of tea by exempting value added tea from payment of tea levy. What this amendment is trying to achieve is to make sure that factories can compete amongst themselves by processing their tea, packaging their tea and selling it directly to the buyers, either within the country, outside the country or even at the auction. Removing the tea levy from packaging that is less than 10 kilograms tells the tea factories that they can be creative. It is going to create employment for the youth. I say so because a tea factory somewhere in Kiambu County, Gachege Tea Factory, makes and packages their own brand. A young man or woman from that area who lives abroad would want to help their parents, community or society. So wherever they live, in Saudi Arabia, China, India or England, they look for market for the tea produced by their parents. Since this amendment Bill is allowing direct sales from the factory to the user, I believe this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Madam Temporary Speaker, this Bill brings about competition. We have so many tea factories. Some of them are not able to do it by themselves, some are doing well. Those that are doing well can merge with those not doing very well so that we can have volumes of scale and are able to come up with a nice brand. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}