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{
    "id": 1425210,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1425210/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 147,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "I want Members of this House to reflect on their own standing. When you are only invited to trips to the goat auction in Mogoshu, but others are taken to the U.S.A, you should reflect on your standing within your own party. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second point I want clarity on is whether in celebrating this International Tea Day, we are celebrating the growers or the drinkers. If it is the drinkers of tea, that debate should be properly anchored by Sen. Osotsi from Vihiga County and I as the leading Luhya leaders in this House, who are known to be the highest consumers of this product. I do not know what Sen. Cherarkey knows about tea more than Sen. Osotsi because Sen. Osotsi both grows and drinks tea heavily. So, my concern is that clarity. Maybe the originator of the statement can tell us whether we are celebrating the drinkers or the growers of tea. Thirdly, I was a bit surprised hearing the Head of State speak the other day. He said that he is not aware of any Kenyan tea brand. I have grown up drinking KETEPA knowing it is Kenyan tea. I would like some clarity on these matters from the maker of this statement. Does Kenya have a Kenyan brand of tea? What is this I have been drinking? Is KETEPA from Sri Lanka? Finally, I want to encourage the leadership of Nandi and Bomet counties, where this tea is grown, to also reflect on the resolution of the disputes that we have seen, especially regarding foreign companies that have been holding land in those areas and have been growing tea all these years. At the beginning of this term of Parliament, there were very serious incidents in Bomet and Nandi counties, where people even lost their lives, and machinery and property of immense value was destroyed. We never heard from Sen. Cherarkey how that matter was resolved. In fact, the protests were more violent and we did not see the sort of police action being taken on the people in Nandi and Bomet counties who were burning and destroying property owned by these companies. As we celebrate this International Tea Day, please let us reflect on all these matters so that as a country, we protect this very key source of foreign exchange and this industry that employs thousands of Kenyans. I thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}