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"id": 226769,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/226769/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mwenje",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Co-operative Development and Marketing",
"speaker": {
"id": 257,
"legal_name": "David S. Kamau Mwenje",
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"content": "So, as much as we would want the revival of Kilifi Cashewnut Factory and know the people behind its vandalisation, either the Mover comes with an amendment, or we reject the Motion. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, so many industries have been vandalised. I was shocked the other day when I visited the Eldoret Branch of Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC) Limited and found that a lot of the machines which were meant for processing milk were vandalised. They were stolen then sold to some people in this country who are in the same business. It is not only the person who vandalises and steals who is wrong, but also the person buying vandalised and stolen property. They are all guilty. In any case, no person will try to steal something which he or she is not able to sell. So, the stealing must have started from the person who wants to buy a vandalised item. Let us start by asking those who are buying stolen property to stop doing so, because they are the people who encourage those who vandalise and steal property from other people. If you have no market, then you will not buy stolen and vandalised property. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is a real shame and I really pity the people of Kilifi because the 514 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 11, 2007 only livelihood they had was from the sale of their cashewnuts. If you visited the area, you could even see hawkers getting cashewnuts from the factory and selling them in order to provide for themselves and their families. However, today Kilifi Town is so quiet. It is like a dead town, particularly when you come to the roads because there is no business going on. There were a lot of employees in Kilifi Cashewnut Factory. They were not even paid because the money was not enough. I remember when I joined the Ministry, it was decided that we look for money to revive this industry and we started doing so. Before that happened, the factory was sold to some powerful people in this country. I have nothing to hide and I must say that this was done with the blessing of State House at that time. Those who were involved in the vandalisation of equipment and selling of this factory were those who had power at State House at that time. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank this Government and the President since a lot of stalled industries, including Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) and Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC), have now been revived. I am grateful to President Kibaki for his gesture of reviving stalled industries. I believe time is still there for the revival of this Kilifi Cashewnut Factory. It is possible to revive this factory. It would be better to compensate those who bought it as it happened with those who bought KCC and we revive it. However, we cannot do that if we do not have the proper recommendations from both sides of the House, so that we look for money to pay these people. I really pity the people of Kilifi on this particular issue. Whenever I go to the Coast Province, I find that cashewnuts are being sold even at Likoni and I imagine that these are not the ones from Kilifi. They are either imported from Tanzania or they are from people who do the roasting in their own homes. It is a shame. That should not be allowed to continue. We must, through hook or crook, revive this factory. Apart from Satan's money, we must try to get money to revive this factory. For that reason, I agree that we must look and find a way of punishing those who cannibalised this industry. We must only not look for these people, but also for those who authorised this thing to happen. We must revive this factory. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should not only revive this factory, but by extension, we must do the same to all the collapsed industries and charge all the people who were involved in their collapse. We must assist the farmers in Kilifi who grow cashewnuts and have no market to take them. However, this will not happen if this proposed Select Committee is composed of hon. Members from one side of this House. Even hon. Members from the Government must be involved, so that we do not conclude that it was biased. For that reason, unless this Motion is amended, I oppose it the way it is despite the fact that I am very much willing to support it. I commend the hon. Member for the area, but let him come with a balanced list of hon. Members of his intended Select Committee. In the meantime, I oppose it the way it is."
}