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{
    "id": 527540,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/527540/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 212,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, the Coffee Board of Kenya still borrows money, it is still funded by the Government but there are no returns. We had the Tea Board of Kenya. The Senate Minority Leader has spoken volumes on what happened with the Tea Board of Kenya. This is not a laughing matter. We have the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB). Madam Temporary Speaker, I was with you in the Tenth Parliament. We found out that the NCPB not only lacks the capacity to sustain Kenya in terms of maize but also how to store and control what has already been produced. The Governments of Kenya, including the previous ones, have been giving contracts to private operators to import maize at exorbitant prices. The same NCPB waits to buy the same maize at that exorbitant price and to give it to Kenyans. This country has the Sugar Board of Kenya. The Sugar Board of Kenya has never helped this country. The Senate Minority Leader has articulated, in detail, how farmers who grow sugar cane continue to suffer in this country today. So, if we say that we establish a Board that will control issues of fertiliser in this country and help this country, it is a total lie. I oppose it by saying that this is another bottomless hole to squander public funds on the basis of the issues that have been conferred to it. Paragraph 3(2)(b) is a laughing matter. It says that the Board will collect a small group of people and give them powers to purchase, acquire, hoard, charge, and dispose all kind of movable and immovable properties. This is a replica of what has previously been used to steal public funds. Secondly, I was a Committee Member of the Public Investments Committee of the Tenth Parliament. Forget all the Boards that we have examined, not even 0.1 per cent that was found to be safeguarding public funds. The Boards had stolen and squandered the money. The answers we were getting from those who came before us were that the issues occurred before they were appointed and that was what everybody used to say. The biggest Government’s Budget today is being spent to service loans that were secured by boards. This Board has been given powers to borrow money and to make investments. How can a Board which is part of the Government go into investments? What should it invest in apart from buying train wagons which are not useful? They will be coming to tell us that they are setting up a factory somewhere. Money will be given out and stolen. At the end of the day, we will be told that a factory was to be set somewhere. I talked to the “Lion King”, Senator for Meru, who was a Minister in the Tenth Government. I challenged him that the experience we have is that this Board will just squander public funds. He told me that we should remove certain clauses and amend them. If we want to move away from allowing people to squander public funds, we must oppose this. There is no way you will pick a person who has never done any business, appoint him to be the Chief Executive Officer of this Board and give him powers to borrow money. Public money will disappear there. Clause 2(b) talks about advising the Cabinet Secretary on matters related to fertiliser and on the relative priorities to be given to the implementation of specific measures. If this Board will be there to advice through the Cabinet Secretary, what will be the use of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries? Where are the experts 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"
}