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{
    "id": 505294,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/505294/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 163,
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    "content": "all due respect to that House, is to kill that board very quietly through this Bill. It says that the consultative forum will constitute of heads of departments and chaired by the governor. Heads of departments and the governor form the executive of that county. They do not need a consultative forum. By their composition, they are an executive. A consultative forum is necessary when you have different levels of government. In the current law, especially in the County Governments Act, what is provided for is an inter-governmental forum which means different levels of Government. Different levels of Government, include the national Government, institutions like Senators, Members of the National Assembly and the county governments. What this amendment is doing is to create a forum which will be chaired by the Governor, in his absence the Deputy, in his absence by the County Executive Committee member (CEC) and departmental heads where they can invite some professions like engineers and lawyers. In my view, this is one of the clauses we may consider for amendment when we come to the Third Reading. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, on the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Act, there is a proposed amendment to remove fisheries from the Act. It is also proposed that fisheries be removed from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Act. It is clear that the challenges of the fisheries sector are not the same as those in the agricultural sector. For a long time, since Independence, agriculture and livestock have shared departments and Ministries so it is possible for the two to be together under the same law and authority, but to bring fisheries under the same authority was completely not appropriate. I agree with the amendments being made to remove fisheries from that board. There is also an amendment on the membership of the Kenya Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority where the chairman will be appointed by the President. I have no problem with that. Then it says that the other eight members will be appointed by the stakeholders. For a long time, if you look at tea or coffee, I am not a tea, coffee or dairy farmer like some of the Senators, but what I know is that if you look at some of the big institutions we have in this country, there have always been challenges with them. One such institution is the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) in the coffee sector. I know that these institutions have always been run by stakeholders from that sector. I do not think you will ever see somebody from Mandera in the board of these institutions concerned with coffee or tea. Even then, they have always had challenges. I do not know what it means when you say that the eight members will be stakeholder representatives. I think it means people should elect their own as we have seen in the coffee and tea sector where people elect someone and then complaints arise. I think there is need to find out whether we still need to adopt the same policies. The reasons we are not succeeding in agriculture are the policies. We have failed, as nation. We have the land, but you will find that our agricultural sector is collapsing. The sugar industry is collapsing. In terms of cereals, we are importing maize. We are in crisis in terms of milk. We are not making progress in all sectors. I remember in 1979 and 1980s when we had 11 sugar factories. At that time, we were self-sufficient. Today, we have challenges. This is because of the policies. When you set up the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Authority and say that the stakeholders The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}