Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 508895,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/508895/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "red apart from the Kenya Sugar Board. Now this law swept them away. Having succeeded, we now want again to start forming parastatals. We should advise hon. Chris Wamalwa that this is a good effort. In fact, for this effort he has received grade A but for intention, he should go slowly and we will know how to grade him. Madam Temporary Speaker, this thing is so serious that I am forced to take the House to the Fourth Schedule of our Constitution. In the Fourth Schedule, Part XXIX – the functions of the national government - We are told that one of the functions retained at the national function is agricultural policy. When you look at the functions that this board is being given, amongst other things, is speaking to the issue of policy. That can very well be taken care of by the Cabinet Secretary together with his or her technocrats at the Ministry. When you look at Part 33, it talks about the issue of public investment. The investment of a factory that this Bill is speaking to will be sorted out by the national government in terms of provisions of Part 33 of the functions that are retained at the national government. We do not need to create special legislation to speak to the issue of public investments. Sen. Orengo and Sen. Wako are here and must be remembering that once upon a time in this country, we had the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) but it went. If it was still there, it would be dealing with some of these things but because of forward movement in the thinking and practice of governance in this country, it became necessary to think otherwise. This Bill is retrogressive and it is taking us back. We should reject it and invite hon. Chris Wamalwa in amending the AFA Act so that if there is anything that he sees in the AFA Act that has amalgamated these parastatals, then we do it through this particular Act. When you go to the Bill, speaking to the functions of the Board, they tell us that the Board is supposed to facilitate the development and the establishment of fertiliser manufacturing factories in Kenya. That is public investment which is going to be decided by technocrats at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in Nairobi. Madam Temporary Speaker, they are telling us that this Board is supposed to encourage and empower Kenyans to invest and establish local fertiliser plants. We cannot go that way. In fact, if we want to have the big picture of a country called Kenya, we are thinking about putting up a serious factory in an agreed area which can then specialize in providing fertiliser to all our counties. This is the big picture. They are telling us that this is supposed to manage the importation and distribution of fertiliser. When I was moving this Motion that I have referred to, we even discovered that some of those jokers had actually purchased gunny bags using their companies from Europe. They imported gunny bags worth millions of shillings and said that those gunny bags were supposed to carry the fertiliser. The same was done to maize. If you allow these guys to continue doing this kind of thing, we will be here helpless waiting for Edward Ouko to go and report them to the Public Accounts Committee which will be looked at after five years, and after five years, it will take another five years before implementation and after that many of them will be retired, dead or jailed. Madam Temporary Speaker, they are saying that the Board is supposed to ensure that there are adequate retail outlets in all counties where farmers can access fertilisers. 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."
}