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"id": 86562,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/86562/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kones",
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"speaker": {
"id": 53,
"legal_name": "Julius Kipyegon Kones",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this chance to contribute to the debate on the Tea (Amendment) Bill. As we know tea is the second foreign exchange earner in this country. it is a source of employment for a majority of Kenyans. There are so many players that are involved in the tea business. These are the farmers, marketers and the consumers. One of the problems that we have had in this industry, which I thought this Bill was meant to address, is the low returns to stakeholder number one, that is the farmer. The small scale farmers in this country process their tea through their individual factories, which are managed by the KTDA. I want to correct a statement made by the Minister who has just seconded the debate on the Bill, that the factories are owned by the KTDA. That is not the case. All factories are owned by the farmers, but only managed by the KTDA. Over the time the KTDA has deviated from its initial mandate. Its initial core mandate was to source for markets and sell tea on behalf of the farmers at competitive prices. However, if you look at it currently, the KTDA has moved away from that core mandate to be in business on its own, running an insurance firm and a bank on its own. Now the KTDA wants to compete with the KPLC in power generation. It is performing a very different mandate from what it was meant to do. In doing so, it has forgotten the farmer. I hear a lot of stories every now and then; there was this huge profit made by KTDA that went to the Government. I think that is not the issue we want to address here, that is how much tax the KTDA pays to the Government. It is how much returns go to the farmer that we ought to be more interested in at this time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have been keen on the statistics of our tea sales. In the year, 2009/10 the average price of tea ranged between US$3 to US$4 a kilogramme. This translated to roughly Kshs240 to Kshs300 per kilogramme. In essence, that should translate to between Kshs80 and Kshs120 per kilogramme of green tea. But you will realize that our farmers are paid peanuts. They are paid an average of Kshs40, which is half what tea fetches in the market. I have seen some efforts in this Bill that have been made to address some of the issues like reducing the number of directors in the Tea Board of Kenya, which is a regulator in the sector; but the Bill has not really addressed the core issue of what we should do to improve the returns to the farmers. Clause 13(2) talks about an ad valorem levy, and has proposed that 50 percent of it will go to the Tea Board of Kenya and 50 percent of it will go to Tea Research Foundation. I find this not a very good idea; the cess that used to be collected, though it was poorly managed, was used to maintain feeder roads in the tea growing areas. Now by apportioning everything just to Tea Board of Kenya and Tea Research Foundation, nothing will go back to the tea growing areas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know the thinking behind Clause 12 on registration of dealers. It is being proposed that anybody found dealing in tea in contravention of this provision shall be fined up to Kshs1 million. This has been because of talk that has been misinterpreted that when a farmer is able to find a factory that can give a better price then he contravenes a law which says he must register with a certain factory. That made sense a long time ago when factories could only be owned by the people. Currently, young farmers, like me, do not have to own a factory, yet they want to grow tea. This is the case despite the fact that there are private factories which are coming up. Why should I not be allowed to take my tea a place, however far it is, as long as I can fetch a better price from that area? This notion of tying farmers to just one place and giving the monopoly to the KTDA to be the sole managing agent--- I thought this Bill would address that, and allow other marketing agents to apply to be allowed to manage factories; what we are seeking to do will not help the farmers at the end of the day. Those of us from tea growing areas know the problems our farmers face. As we speak, I can tell you that there could be tea that has not been collected for the last two days. Our farmers are still waiting in the tea buying centres. This law is telling you that you can never take your tea elsewhere, even if there is a factory five kilometers away from where your tea is; this is just because you registered in another factory. I think that is enslavement."
}