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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, this is in furtherance to a Motion that I had moved in this House a few months ago, seeking that a Select Committee of the Senate be set up to look into the plight of tea farmers in this country. As a Committee, I confidently report that we have done tremendous work and 70- 80 per cent of the job is done. We have moved around 10 out of the 14 tea growing counties. We took time to visit, listen to the farmers and share in their frustrations. On many occasions, they recounted to us how they have appeared before presidential task forces and select committees of Parliament. They hoped that this will be that one particular Committee that will eventually free them from the yoke of slavery. The story of the tea farmer in Kenya is one sad, tragic story. It is a story of exploitation, manipulation, betrayal and all manner of things against impoverished but extremely hardworking citizens of this Republic. On many occasions, the farmers shared with us the toil of how back in the day tea business thrived in this Republic. They were able to educate, cloth, treat their families and, generally, have a good life as farmers. However, thanks to corruption and the many ills that continue to dog our society, the tea sector in this country right now is in an extremely sorry state and nearing a total collapse. In fact, Madam Temporary Speaker, the only thing that has stopped tea from going the way of all the other crops in this Republic is that the business itself is so liquid. If you steal from it today, tomorrow you can still show up and earn more money out of tea. That is why this industry has not collapsed like the sugar, pyrethrum and all the other crop businesses of the yester years. After finishing the tour of the different parts of this country, we sat down to listen to presentations from different players in this sector, for example, from the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) and the East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) who sell our tea to different counties. It is extremely worrying that everybody keeps on passing the blame or baton and nobody wants to take responsibility yet, at the end of the day, the farmer continues to suffer. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is well known that in the year 2000, the Government of Kenya decided to privatize an organization that was owned by the people of Kenya known as the Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) and renamed it as Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) through Sessional Paper No.2 of 2000. After that privatization, it has been a sorry state for our farmers because so many things have gone wrong. Previous Parliaments have not succeeded because as you are all aware, a sessional paper cannot be amended. There have been various fronts, for example, the presidential task force in 2007 and another one that was set up in 2106. There was also an attempt by a Member of Parliament (MP), through a private Member’s Bill in the Ninth Parliament to move an amendment but all that did not succeed. The reports that were done despite the fact that taxpayers’ money was spent are gathering dust just like the rest of the beautiful reports that have been done in this country. However, it is the extreme determination of this Committee that once and for all, we shall rise and stand up for the farmers of this country and give them what is worth of their dues. At the end, when a kilogramme of maybe tea is sold for almost Kshs300 at the Port of Mombasa, only a partly Kshs60 to 70 gets to the pockets of our farmers. The rest 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."
}