HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 305889,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/305889/?format=api",
"text_counter": 511,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "because of a variety of governance issues, people thought the KPCU was a cash cow and ultimately what they did now was that there were serious leadership wrangles but even without that, something happened in 2005; that was liberalization of the market such that the KPCU lost the monopoly in handling coffee. The law was well drafted by this House and I salute it for that. The provisions were that if you decide to shift from one miller to another, then you must get authority from where you were taking your coffee before as long as you were registered. That has never happened, therefore, the seven millers that shot up took all the clientele leaving the KPCU to cripple and die of debt. The debt that KPCU has, as much as we talk about governance, has something to do with that particular law and the failure by the management then at the KPCU to call for the bonds which are mandatory and which are supposed to be Kshs1 billion for anybody who wishes to mill coffee in this Republic. When eventually the decision was made and this harsh decision to come on and put the company under receivership, the story became like a theater. There were so many things happening that this Committee - I thank the Membership - has captured a summary of that in this big report which I would encourage hon. Members to go through. But among the things is that, even with all that was happening, some people were abusing the accounts of the KPCU. We have a case, for those who have the report, page 146, where somebody moves over US$772,000 into the account and then out. We have several cases, all eloquently proved in our report, where the opening balance and closing balance cannot tally. It is generally understood in the banking sector that overnight there is nothing that happens and so if your balance was at Kshs1 million yesterday, this morning it should be Kshs1 million but it was not the case with the KPCU. We know time is of essence. We value our farmers and also appreciate their contributions to the Kenyan economy. As I said from the outset, this whole thing was an illegality. This Committee as late as this afternoon has confirmed from the Registrar of Companies that, indeed, Kenya Planters Co-operative Union Limited (KPCU) was under receivership, but the receivers have never bothered to register. This means all that they have been doing is a farce. It is total illegality just like driving a car without registration numbers. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the matter here is very grave. I wish to read this letter and table it. It is from the Registrar of Companies. The upshot of this is that all the money which according to the company that deals with receivership totals to about Kshs273 million, was done illegally. True to the word, that has not been reflected in the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) account. Indeed, it is a very sad affair. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Registrar of Company says:- “From our records the Receiver Manager has not filed a notice of appointment of receivership with the Registrar of Companies” That is as of today. So, what have they been doing? I think it is a challenge to the Government. I believe the Ministers are here and they can hear this and report to the Executive, so that they can know what went wrong. Indeed, when we made an inquiry, an attempt was made by the Delloitte and Touche, a reputable company according to its own standards, to try and show that, indeed, they had filed that notification. I have a copy, which I wish to table. To us, this copy is useless. It is just a mere document. Even if they did fill the document, they kept it in their drawers and, obviously, it was not useful."
}