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"id": 720328,
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"speaker_name": "Hon. Nooru",
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"legal_name": "Adan Mohamed Nooru",
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"content": "In Clause 6, the board’s composition also has an issue in the sense that there are about four Principal Secretaries (PSs), including the Director of Veterinary Services, in a board of eight or nine members. It will become more or less half a Government institution. For one, I propose the removal of the PS for Co-operatives and we remain with the PSs for Livestock, Finance and Devolution – those three PSs. On Subsection (g) of Clause 6, there is no need for the Director of Veterinary Services and his PS to sit on the same board. Either the PS or the Director of Veterinary Services should be a full member, while the PS could make the Director of Veterinary an alternate because there is technical assistance required from the Director of Veterinary. I will have to say that on the composition of the board. Section 6(2) is the appointment of the chairperson. I have had experience of the composition or appointment of the board or chairman of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA). It says: “The chairman shall be appointed through a competitive process by the Cabinet Secretary (CS), with the approval of the National Assembly.” It is very cumbersome. For a person who is temporary and not executive to be sourced competitively in the first place? This is not a full time job; it is a part time job. I do not think there is any need for subjecting it to unnecessary competition. That should have been the work of the Executive or the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the board. But, for the chairman, I think it should be left just like in any other parastatal, to be appointed by the President, not even by the CS. Even the appointing authority is not even indicated there. On the qualifications for the chairman, where the Bill says he should be a master’s degree holder in agriculture and veterinary service, I think for the chairman, being in charge of policy, there is no need as to why we should subject him to qualifications of a certain sector. He should have wide knowledge and can come from any sector. He can be a lawyer. He can be a scientist. There is no reason why we should confine him to being a veterinary scientist only. It should be left open. But that should have been the qualifications for that particular sector for the chief executive officer. The experience of 15 years for the chairman and 10 years for the board member is on the higher side. It will lock many people out. Therefore, it should be looked into. Sub-section 11 of the same Section, Clause 11 states: “The member of the board shall be paid certain remuneration, allowances and disbursements of expenses as may be approved by the Cabinet Secretary. That should also be substituted by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and not the Cabinet Secretary who should determine the remuneration of the board. On Sub-section 13 is on the qualifications of the CEO. If you have fixed Masters in veterinary science for the chairman, and you have left only the qualification of the executive, that he should have relevant expertise and qualification in the livestock sector, I think the CEO’s qualifications should be raised above having expertise in the livestock sector. Hon. Speaker, I think the last one is that this Bill is a very good one. I appeal to Members to support it. At the same time, the issue of KMC was just mentioned. It is a very critical institution in this sector. For many years, the Government has tried to uplift the face of that factory but, up to now, it has not managed do the same. As a Committee, we have tried to budget every time, but the Treasury goes behind our backs and remove whatever has been budgeted for that institution. Therefore, the Government should look into that and see how that critical sector of livestock, which contributes substantially to the economy and food security in this country, can be enhanced. Capital investment must be done in the value chain in terms of production, processing and even marketing. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}