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"speaker_name": "Mr. Khamasi",
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"legal_name": "Daniel Lyula Khamasi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to support this important Motion which has been brought to the House by hon. Angwenyi. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, tea farmers are Kenyans, just like the coffee, sugarcane, maize or livestock farmers. This is only one sector where the Government has really not invested much, and where it has invested, the farmers pay through the nose. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, factories managed by the KTDA, if you look at the cost at which they were established, it is too enormous; far, far beyond their realistic value. I want to take an example of a tea factory near my home, where I deliver my green tea, in the name of Mudete Tea Factory. This factory was built at a cost of close to Kshs500 million. There was a lot of debate as to whether that was a realistic value or not, and we had experts go out and compare exactly what a realistic value for a factory of similar size would cost. We were amazed! This factory could have cost just below Kshs200 million and yet, the farmers are supposed to pay close to Kshs500 million. This is robbery of tea farmers! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that you do not have the experience of tea farmers. But I live with them myself and I know what they go through. If you compare the sort of energy and effort they put into that particular crop to get a little money, you will really sympathize with them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am a little reluctant with what has been proposed here, for the Government to directly inject funds. I would rather we have it in a similar manner that was done for coffee, sugarcane and dairy farmers, where these funds had, somehow, to reach those farmers immediately so that they, themselves, would be able to manage how they use them. I would expect a similar situation would arise where the monies will go to the factories. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not think that we need only to expand. If we need to support and help tea farmers, we need even to add value in the processing of tea, because at the moment, we produce black tea which we export as raw material for other big tea producers in this world in the auction to buy and blend their teas and, still, we import the same in this country. It is for this reason I said that, in as much as we want to expand and increase the production, we need also to add value so that we can do the processing and blending here, and export our tea as a finished product. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important that the KTDA Act, which came into effect 33 years ago, has to be re-looked at, because, particularly, the directors in most of the factories leave a lot to be desired in terms of the services they provide to the farmers. It is, therefore, necessary that we amend this Act, particularly as regards procurement of goods and services. The KTDA still holds the key to the most important raw materials, goods and services which are consumed by these tea factories, and they leave them with very little to do. Therefore, those costs are eventually passed to the tea factories and, eventually, to the farmers. It is necessary that, that is checked so that there is proper control of that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I just wanted to add my voice on this issue and say 1544 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 23, 2007 that, this is a very important Motion. We should be able to pass it so that we move fast and amend this Act for the benefit of tea farmers in this country. I beg to support."
}