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{
"id": 1567804,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567804/?format=api",
"text_counter": 286,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "Think about it, Madam Temporary Speaker. We spend as a country close to Kshs500 billion importing food alone, wheat, sugar, rice and cooking oil. It is not rocket science about the countries we import from. There is Pakistan for the rice, Malaysia for the edible oil, Russia, Ukraine and those parts of the world for their wheat. It is because they have listened to their private sector and have taken time to understand what they would do for their private sector to become more competitive as well as ensure that they produce sufficiently for their country of origin and enough to export to other countries. We must make those interventions. I am appreciative of the interventions that have been made in certain sectors. One example is the sugar sub-sector. We have read reports that for the first time, in the next one or two years, Kenya can move from being a near-net importer of sugar to an exporter, like Uganda. This is because of the privatization in that sector as well as ensuring that local farmers are encouraged to grow more. They now have mills that are working and they can be paid. Not just pay the farmers but timely payments; within seven days. There is no other crop in the country. For tea, coffee and dairy, you have to wait for 30 days. It is only in the sugar sub-sector that farmers get paid every seven days by private millers. That is why it was important to carry out the leasing programmes, so that farmers can understand and appreciate why, if they plant because many had given up. They had left a small portion of land for subsistence but now, they see it as a business and they are sure that when they grow their crop, they will have somewhere to supply. Out of that raw material, we can feed the market and perhaps, even import. It is a reaction to that reality that is being proposed by the various laws and amendments that are being done. Madam Temporary Speaker, as I have mentioned, it is about occupational safety by the multinationals that have set up camp in this country. This is a difficult country to do business in. I say this because I interact with various business people and sometimes they tell you that, while the returns are good in Kenya, this is an extremely difficult market. The Government stands in the way of business and apart from that, there is litigation. Employees always take you to court and in court, you are never heard. Nine of out 10 times, if an employee takes an employer to court, you are almost certain that you will lose. That should not be the case. There ought to be a balance and people need to realize that without the employer, there is no employee. Without the employee, there is no employer. Therefore, you must set up laws that conform to the demands of the 21st Century. We were well in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) space until certain decisions were made in our courts that made people disappear from this country; people that had already projected to invest significant amounts. Madam Temporary Speaker, you come from Murang’á. On your way home, pass by Tatu City. I forget the name of that company, but there was a BPO station that has thousands of young people working in that part of the country. This is something that can be replicated across the country if certain adjustments are made that protect both the investor and the employee. This is so that we compete with other parts of the world. 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."
}