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"id": 6765,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mututho",
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"legal_name": "John Michael Njenga Mututho",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, from 1963 people have been travelling to Israel; executives, Members of Parliament and everybody, each time they go to learn. He wanted to know from us what is so difficult to learn from Israel. What is so hard for us to appreciate; the technologies? I was there again two weeks or three weeks ago, reluctantly so and I thank Parliament for enabling that to happen. However, this time round, I had gone to check on technology. Looking at this Report and admiring the intensity of issues raised, I would wish again to refer to the same country; Israel. The whole story we hear about Israel is about a very hard working community working on only 400,000 hectares. That is approximately one million acres. With that, they are able to do exports to a level of US$20 billion. That is up and above our national budget and it is being realized from just one million acres. It is a shame and you can even tell from the interest in this House, that most of us really do not want to appreciate that we can manage our own affairs. Most of us do not seem to understand that what Israel is farming on is exactly the acreage of one of the ranches called Galana Ranch which is owned by this Government. It is down at the coast and they have more resources there in terms of water and falls, mountains, two major rivers traversing that particular place which is bigger than the whole state of Israel. If you look at the happenings down in Israel, then you wonder what is wrong with Kenya. I am glad to be here and tell you the truth. The truth in Kenyan agriculture and which forms the very foundation of our insecurity is three-fold; one is cartels, two is cartels and three is cartels. Cartels within the Kenyan economy particularly in agriculture are shocking. I want to highlight a few of those cartels. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one such cartel which is very new and fresh is the maize cartel. The House should mourn to learn that actually 67 per cent of all maize business is run by four families. They are able to sit over a cup of tea, a cup of coffee and determine the produce price. They are able to determine the consumer price. They are there to tell us that maize in Kenya can only cost about Kshs100 or Kshs120 per kilogramme per packet. Our brothers in Zambia where there are no cartels, maize or what they call Mill mill, which is a very fine type of stuff costs only an equivalent of Kshs36 per packet. That means that even with our advances in technology and our advances in marketing, with very healthy infrastructure, we are still producing at over Kshs100 per packet while Zambia and Malawi are producing at an equivalent of Kshs36 per packet. That is the shame of Kenyans. If you look at it, then you will understand why we have had all these things to do with maize and other things. The rest of the millers, about 200 will only scramble for 30 per cent of the market share but 67 per cent will go to only four families with one family doing 42 per cent. So, as you discuss in this august House the principles behind the low standards of living, please, understand that three or four families sitting around a coffee table determine how much savings you will have on your hard earned salaries because they have a mandate to determine and crucify Kenyans in terms of prices. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other cartel is, of course, in the sugar sector. I do not think it is surprising to this House to hear that to cushion prices this Government and this House had provided for a 4 per cent levy within the Kenya Sugar Board. So, every time you bought a kilogramme of sugar, 4 per cent was retained to cushion you against the movement of prices. It will be shocking to learn that the money has not been utilized even with this crisis and you still have to pay Kshs250 for a kilogramme of sugar. The other day, I was trying to compare the production of oil and how we exploit it, all the way to the mineralogy, drilling, refining, transportation and all the brokers in it, including the global politics and understood why premium petrol costs Kshs120 per litre. Now, Kshs120 for petrol because of specific gravity would translate to about Kshs140 per kilogramme. However, how much is a kilogramme of sugar? Production of sugar simply means moving of cane to the crashers, refining and taking it to the shelves. The cost is a scaring Kshs250 per kilogramme. So, even in the rare commodities like oil, we still register lower prices than our locally produced commodity like sugar. That is the power of cartels. Again, there have been, until recently or maybe last week only 11 importers who represent interests of about three or four importers. So, again, another set of three or four families will sit and determine exactly what is supposed to be done and what Kenyans can pay for a kilogramme of sugar. These cartels are not beyond re-probe. These cartels can be broken by good legislation and the Departmental Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperatives which I am honoured to Chair has come up with an amendment to the Sugar Act which will try to legislatively deal with this menace. But, in the meantime, I hope and pray that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Treasury are listening and will release the 4 per cent that has been collected from Kenyans as levy so that we can cushion the prices of sugar in this country. That way, the standards of living will improve to an extent that we will have affordable sugar on our tables. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other commodity is fertilizer. I do not want to dwell on it. However, no one understands why Kenya has not been able to set up a plant for fertilizer. You can talk about KenRen and what you want to do but the truth is that the substandard fertilizer market in Africa is dominated by Kenya. It is on that basis that, perhaps, some authorities particularly, the Executive may be reluctant to establish new factory or to allow agencies such as the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA) or the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) or, indeed, any other agency to trade directly on this. It is shocking that the Ministry of Agriculture behaves like a trader by importing on behalf of Kenyans and yet this is a function that should be taken by private people and can be executed properly by the KFA, if it was restructured. Restructuring the KFA does not require rocket science. This is a question of offloading some of the assets that are non-core, like the 92 residential houses that they have, and leave the shops and the warehouses, they take care of all their debts and they are back to business and ready to trade. That will be the KFA. The latest in the cartels is forex. Of course, no one can explain and God forbid we do not have earthquakes or we have not had any outbreak of a major disease, why until now the shilling is behaving the way it is. However, you will understand that this is again a group of seven people or seven families which own banks and may have influenced this kind of funny movement on the Kenya Shilling. So, the poor shilling collapsed and Kenyans continue to suffer because of the excessive pricing of sugar, unga and so forth. I better go to the solutions so that I do not stress you. When you look at the impunity in Kenya, it is sad. We have new laws which will stop these monopolistic tendencies that develop into cartels. Again, tribunals which are supposed to implement that law have not been set up. We are still waiting for the gazette notices or whatever the Minister wants to do so that such things can be checked. I humbly urge the House to adopt this Report. I will summarize this Report and agree entirely, with paragraph 11.2 in which the confusion that surrounds various agencies within the agricultural sector is sorted out. There is need to create the National Food Security Authority so that under it we have one body to take care of fisheries and one body to take care of Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS), the Cotton Board of Kenya, the Kenya Sugar Board, Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA), ENDA, the Horticultural Crops Development Authority (HCDA), the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA), the Kenya Planters Co- operative Union (KPCU) and Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK) among others. They are over 100 of them. When they are 100, they can cause confusion. That is why you will find Kenya Seed Company is struggling to get land on one side while the ADC, which is in the same Ministry has ample land but the logistics of doing that becomes a problem. The KFA is a trading arm of this whole family but it is starving due to lack of cash while the Ministry of Agriculture is trying to spend Kshs4.3 billion this year to import fertilizers. That is the confusion that can be avoided by creating a national food security authority. This will also make sure that we do not have the cowboy tendencies that we have now with everybody importing everything including GMOs. The second recommendation will be to support and recognise commodity dealings and stock warehouse receipts as true instruments that can be used for trade so that we eliminate brokers and farmers get high prices on real time without passing through brokers. This will be through warehouse receipt system and will recognize in law that commodities can also be traded within our stock exchange. On irrigation, in Israel, they have banned flood irrigation for the last couple of years. In Kenya, we are using a lot of money to do flood irrigation. If the man called “Noah” was to rise today, he would be surprised that the technology he used to grow his cereals is still in use in Kenya. It is not found anywhere else. Carrying out flood irrigation is a waste of time and money. It is a useless venture and I urge this House to adopt drip irrigation which is scientifically proven and will rationalise water management. I would also urge this House to consider horticultural produce, particularly in areas around Eldoret, Nakuru and Naivasha. This is the only way we can decongest Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). We can export after value addition. There is no rational for exporting our produce without value addition."
}