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"id": 263016,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/263016/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Namwamba",
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"speaker": {
"id": 108,
"legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
"slug": "ababu-namwamba"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in that whole metamorphosis and transformation from KCC to KCC 2000 and onwards to New KCC, a series and continuous litany of injustice has been committed to the dairy farmer in this country. When KCC changed hands to private ownership in the form of KCC 2000, nobody bothered to lift the veil and find out the interest of the dairy farmer in that company at that time and what the fate of the interest of this farmer was, as KCC changed hands and even names to KCC 2000. One would have expected that when the Government recovered KCC and renamed it New KCC, effort would have been made to do an evaluation and determine exactly what the original interests of the dairy farmer in KCC were and how those interests could be recovered. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I have put on record the letter and spirit of the Constitution, which is clear; that the right to property is sacrosanct and cannot be wiped off the slate either by the Government or any other interest. It will be interesting to hear, during debate of this Motion, the measures that the Government has taken to revert the original property rights of the Kenyan dairy farmer held in KCC. Fast-forward, now the Government has made it clear that they want to privatize the New KCC and has offered the following share structure. They say that in the new privatization framework, farmers will be offered a shareholding of 42 per cent. The Stock Exchange; the bourse, will be offered 34 per cent. The current employees of New KCC Limited will be offered 4 per cent. The Government will retain 20 per cent. That is the proposed shareholding structure in the anticipated privatisation of New KCC Limited. I do not know whether that latest move is going to translate into another name change. The two fundamental questions are: In this new privatisation arrangement, what is the Government saying about the original property rights of the dairy farmer? Remember that at the time when the defunct KCC Limited ran into financial headwinds, the assets for the company were estimated at over Kshs5 billion. What happened to those assets? What happened to the original assets of the defunct KCC Limited? If by reason of Government laxity or complicity, those properties were wasted or stolen or, for whatever reason disappeared off the face of the earth by some alien force, does the Government owe the Kenyan dairy farmer the responsibility for restitution to restitute the Kenya dairy farmers to their original position? Secondly, is the Government aware that if these structures were to be implemented as proposed, the Kenyan dairy farmer will lose control over this new company? This is because, by merely putting the Government and the Nairobi Stock Exchange together, the Government could cede its shareholding to private investors at any time. This will be a company where, again, the dairy farmer, who is the foundation for this whole arrangement, will be the minority in terms of shareholding power. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, therefore, what this Motion seeks is very simple and very noble. I hope that the Government will have no reason to fight this Motion. We have no problem with the privatisation. We live in an era where everything seems to be headed in the direction of privatisation. However, before you privatise, just pause and answer some fundamental questions: Where are the original assets of the defunct KCC Limited? How do we determine the rights of the Kenyan dairy farmer in those assets? How do we secure those rights and ensure that they do not get lost in this whole privatisation process? Where is the Kenyan dairy farmer in this whole picture? Why is the producer – the person who should really be at the centre of this whole process – at the periphery? Who is driving this process? If we can answer those questions, I believe that this privatisation process can proceed. It can move forward but in the best interest of the country ultimately and in the best interest of the Kenyan farmer. We have reached a point where we must stop this habit of impoverishing our primary producers. What we are talking about are the maize farmers or the dairy farmer. We are country which deliberately breaks the backbone we claimed and celebrate to be the pillar of our economy; by the very policies we implement and by the very actions that we take. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in the last Session of this Parliament, I brought to Motions to this House, both of which touch on the Kenyan farmer. I brought a Motion here to help resuscitate the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA). We passed the Motion here. The Government stood on the opposite side of this Dispatch area and made a commitment that they were going to place Kshs1.4 billion into the hands of the KFA to resuscitate that eminent farmers’ organisation and provide a platform where Kenyan farmers can protect their interests. After that, I brought another Motion in response to the devastation caused by drought and other phenomena that caused Kenyan farmers heavy losses, making it difficult for them to repay their loans to the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC). Again, we asked the Government to put Kshs2 billion in the AFC coffers to enable it provide relief to farmers. Up to-date, in a very cynical conduct and attitude, the Government has not placed single penny in either the coffers of the KFA or AFC. This is very shameful. We are not talking about any other sector. We are talking about a sector that even the Government celebrates must anchor Vision 2030. At this rate, this Government should revise Vision 2030 to become Vision 3020. We cannot be sitting in this House, passing Motions, listening to the Government make commitments and they simply do not move a finger. I want to urge the Government that this particular Motion in which we are asking the Ministry and the Kenya Farmers Association to constitute a seven member team that will just do a right reconciliation. Let them conduct open, transparent and accountable rights reconciliation and tell the people of Kenya these are the assets of this company. These are the original rights of the Kenyan dairy farmer. This is how we will protect these rights in the privatization. I hope that as we undertake that process farmers will reclaim their original stake in this company. We also will come up with an arrangement that will demonstrate, not in rhetoric, but in deeds, that this Government is ready to protect the Kenyan farmer. I have no doubt in my engagement with the Ministry of Co-operative Development and I can see the hon. Lina Kilimo is here and I have had occasion to interact with her, I am convinced that the Ministry is working on the right side of history on this matter. I want to urge the Ministry to remain on the right side of history and walk hand in glove with the Kenyan dairy farmer and put this matter to bed. They should send a clear message to the Kenyan farmer that this Government cares and they truly places the efforts of the Kenyan farmer at the very heart of this Vision 2030 drive. I beg to move. Hon. Member for Kisumu Town East, Mr. Shakeel will second this Motion. I beg to move."
}