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{
    "id": 1371215,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1371215/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 208,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Chute",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13583,
        "legal_name": "Chute Mohamed Said",
        "slug": "chute-mohamed-said"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir. When I stand here before you today, some people may think that this gentleman and Senator comes from Marsabit County in the North Eastern region or Upper Eastern, what does he know about coffee? However, Marsabit is a coffee-growing county, especially on the Hills of Marsabit Mountain called Sabache. When I was a young boy, we used to go and farm in those coffee plantations. We had the best coffee that came from Marsabit. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I agree with Sen. Mumma that this is supposed to be a county issue and agriculture is a devolved function. What is happening is that the devolved functions are not being fed with money. The Government is not releasing funds. Counties are able and capable of managing coffee or any agricultural produce in their counties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have 35 counties in this country out of 47, which grow coffee, and we can have even more counties if there could be an institution that can look at other counties that can produce or cultivate coffee trees. About three months ago, we had an opportunity to visit Jebel Ali Prison and we found Kenyan tea being blended and packed in a warehouse. After it has been packed, it is given a different name or the marking is completely different. The origin of the tea is from Kenya, but after blending it is given different names and it goes to different countries in Asia and even Europe. I asked the Manager of Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) why we are not doing this blending in a bonded warehouse in Kenya. His answer was that when we import packaging papers, the taxes on them are very high and after packing, selling it also presents a lot of issues. That is the reason we send our Kenya Tea Development Agency, to go and repack our tea in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai. If you look at the origin of coffee today, it is from Ethiopia; 1,000 years old. If you go to Ethiopia today, from morning to evening, even at night people are taking"
}