{"id":849006,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/849006/?format=json","text_counter":45,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Murkomen","speaker_title":"The Senate Majority Leader","speaker":{"id":440,"legal_name":"Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen","slug":"kipchumba-murkomen"},"content":"The office of the Legal Counsel of the Senate is helping me at the moment to draft a law that reviews the Food and Agriculture Authorities Act. In the draft Bill, I am answering one of the prayers of the Petition in so far as dealing with this issue. I think we did not think through clearly when we amalgamated various agencies that were dealing with agriculture or food departments like macadamia, coconut, coffee. We created a huge entity called Agriculture and Food Authority that is run by one officer at the top. Tea, coffee, macadamia and other crops were relegated to be run by a small director down there, and it becomes an amorphous entity. In fact, one of the reasons the sugar sector has a big problem today is because the Kenya Sugar Board, which was dedicated to perform the functions that are related to the sugar sector, is now a small department under the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA). Under my Bill we go back The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."}