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{
    "id": 30336,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/30336/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 318,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Sirma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 178,
        "legal_name": "Simon Saimanga Lesirma",
        "slug": "simon-lesirma"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA) is an institution of farmers. As has been moved eloquently and with a lot of information by Mr. Ababu Namwamba, it has its benefits to the cereal sector in this country. With the wisdom of our colonizers in the 1923, they saw farming and provision of the staple food in this country as a priority. When we got Independence, we were all happy that we had enough food to feed this country. We were also seeing a farmers’ association which was an employer. We also saw an association which could bring farmers and their interests together. Down the line, we brought politics into it in 1984 by changing the name from KFA to the Kenya Grain Growers Corporative Union (KGGCU). This was to serve political interest to the detriment of the farmer. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it was a sad day for the farmers of Kenya but we had very little options because of the Government’s interference in the running of the farmers’ association. This mismanagement by the Government and interventions which must bring back KFA should be the same interventions they used to destroy it. The responsibility lies with the Government and because of the problems we are facing, every time we see the Ministry of State for Special Programmes - the Minister is here - distributing food. There is no food in the country because we have killed the institution which was distributing certified seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and acaricides for livestock farmers in good time. With the network of KFA in this country which still exists, we can never allow it to go to auction as the Government watches as it is sold. We are talking about a bank loan from the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) of Kshs416 million. We are talking about a bank loan from the Barclays Bank of Kenya of Kshs400 million. We are talking about workers’ unpaid salaries of Kshs461 million on which they have taken KFA to court. This is a total of over Kshs1.2 billion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in 2005, this House passed a Motion and it was resolved that KFA be injected with Kshs1.2 billion. The Government went ahead and wrote off Kshs800 million owed to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) by KFA. They went ahead and wrote off further amounts from the Cereals and Sugar Finance which is a Government body. The balance of Kshs1.3 billion is what we are looking for. This is what the Government had actually promised to pay. When we had passed this Motion and accepted that this amount is paid, it came to the Attorney-General. He came up with his weird interpretations to the law by asking who owns KFA. The KFA is owned by Kenyans. The same way we want to inject Kshs45 billion to KenGen which is 30 per cent owned by individuals, why we can we not give the same to KFA which is owned purely by peasant farmers so that they can move ahead? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the same time we had requested for the write off or injection of Kshs2 billion by the Government in the same Motion, it had a Kshs4 billion write off to the coffee sector. They went ahead and wrote off the debts for the coffee sector because some people in the Treasury believed that this country is owned by coffee farmers yet the cereal farmers are all alive and want to feed this country. We want to tell them that we are equally important and we share this country equally. It is time that we looked at the priorities of this country. The cereals sector is one of them. I was looking at the time Uchumi Supermarkets was going to collapse. Why did the Attorney-General not ask: Why are we injecting money to Uchumi Supermarkets? Who owns it? It is owned by shareholders! Why are we talking about KFA? Why question KFA and not Uchumi or the Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU)? This is selective justice. I hope where we are and where we are going, this thing will be put straight so that our farmers can reap the best benefits from this association which has helped farmers all over the country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know the potential KFA has. We know that if we inject this money, KFA will be on its feet the following day. It has been a marketing outlet for the Kenya Seed Company. It has been supplying farmers with fertilizer when they usually import. Right now, farmers have to look for unscrupulous dealers of seeds whose source is not known. That is why we have low production of food in this country. We are not guaranteed where the seed is coming from. We do not know where the fertilizer is coming from. However, when we had the KFA, we were certainly sure that whatever we were buying from those outlets was to the best interest of our farmers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I conclude, I think it is time that we saw this vehicle which is to provide inputs to farmers revived and brought to operate normally the way it used to. The network and the potential of it being an employer is still there. All the infrastructure in this association exist. What it only needs is money and Government support even if it means injecting professionals into this organization so that it best manages the resources which are given, let it be, so long as we have this association running. We should not ask who owns it. It is owned by Kenyans. It is owned by farmers and also Kenya as a country. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}