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"id": 86579,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/86579/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Ms. Karua",
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"id": 166,
"legal_name": "Martha Wangari Karua",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of this Bill, but subject to some amendments which I will be proposing. I think the overhaul of the tea industry is long overdue. I want to congratulate the Minister for tabling this Bill. Once it is in the House, it is the property of the House and it is up to us, and I am glad hon. Members are already doing that, to make suggestions on how we can strengthen this Bill so that it carries the aspirations of the farmers. The speaker who was before me has properly diagnosed the problem. The frustration of the tea farmer is in the KTDA. We know that the KTDA is formed under the Companies Act as a marketing agency wholly owned by the farmers. However, somewhere down the line, the Governmentâs intrusive hand went into the KTDA and started interfering by choosing who is to head the KTDA et cetera . Even when the Government stopped doing that after the country started undergoing reforms, the KTDAâs governance had been affected to the extent that I can say without fear of contradiction that it has not fully recovered. That is why, as Dr. Kones noted the farmers are not really getting value for money. I saw my farmers demonstrating because the bonus they got was not what they expected. The problem is not wholly with the directors because they do not determine the bonus. The directors will be able to determine the quality because they are supposed to supervise the operations of the factory but what comes back to the farmer after the tea is sold of whatever quality is determined by the KTDA. I think the Companies Act is not sufficient to guide an entity that is working for thousands of small-scale farmers and some large-scale farmers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to find a mechanism that will take care of the majority of farmers who are very small compared to the big ones. When you put them together, you will see that majority of the tea that is produced in Kenya is produced by the small scale farmers. We need to find a balance. We need to find out what role the Co-operatives Societies Act will play and what sort of a regulator we need. The Tea Board of Kenya will never be that kind of regulator even as envisaged under this Act. The Tea Board proposed here will never carry out that duty. However, if we need the Tea Board to be a true regulator, we will need to assign it more duties so as to act as a guardian angel of farmers who are currently not getting value for money. They are not getting enough returns for their sweat. I am a bit concerned about the proposed membership and directors of the Tea Board because it is heavily weighted for the Government. The tea is owned by the farmers. Therefore, we must have a combination that gives farmers a say, but puts higher qualifications to the people who get elected to the Board. Yes, we will need Government participation. However, the Government cannot take over the regulator almost wholly as it is being proposed under this Act. We need to strike a balance there in favour of the farmers, remembering that the Constitution states that there shall be participation of the people. This is participation of a crop where the farmers have the interest as the primary producers of the commodity. So, these are some of the areas we need to look at. When one looks at the issues proposed by the Act, one of the very good things is that it is putting penalties to anybody who trades in tea without a licence. This is very important. If you look at the small scale growers from the East of the Rift Valley and West of the Rift Valley, you will see a world of difference. To the East of the Rift Valley, although the farms are very small, the farmers, even with bad governance in the industry, gets higher returns than the small scale farmers to the West of the Rift Valley. That is because of a phenomenon known as hawking. That is on an average. What has been happening is that farmers West of the Rift Valley are being preyed upon by large scale farmers who accept tea hawked to them by people who are desperate to make ends meet on a daily basis. So, they buy the tea and get the bonus instead of the farmers getting the bonus. The difference between those two farmers is that one farmer is getting the monthly payments as well as the yearly bonus. Another farmer gets peanuts for the tea harvested which cannot give him returns for the fertilizer, labour, it cannot allow such farmers to improve their lives. We need such a clause to protect the farmers from those who prey on them. It is the interest of all Kenyans and any Government that is interested in its citizens to ensure that small-scale farmers get value for their money. Protection can only come through a regulator. I think we have not struck the right balance on the role of the regulator vis-a-vis KTDA and all the other ills plaguing the industry. The governance in the factories themselves--- The phenomenon of each factory being able to manage itself came about in the early 1990s. At that time, we had only 42 tea factories in Kenya. Now, there are about 54. They were all turned into companies under the Companies Act and the directors are sourced locally. Many tea factories are managed well. However, we also know that there are some tea factories that are not managed well. There is nobody who is checking on how that is going on. I will say again that, since we are dealing with thousands of small scale farmers, the regulation that allows inspection of how the companies are being run is important. Otherwise, the farmers will not have a say on the day to day management. That is where they are losing their money. Most factories are now trying to get their own source of energy because these are capital intensive projects. They do it solely on the advice of the KTDA. The farmers are told in a meeting without much explanation and it is passed through acclamation. At the end of the day, they only realize when they get less money at the end of the year. I think all those interested in the tea sector need to sit down together. I am urging the Minister, while this Bill is still not concluded, at the Second Reading, to urgently convene a meeting with the Agricultural, Livestock and Cooperative Committee, so that we strengthen the Bill. We can come up with amendments that will satisfy our requirements under this Bill and we move forward together. I want to say that all in all that the Minister is moving in the right direction. However, we need to do slightly more than we have been doing. Madam Minister, we would also like to see the issue of value addition captured in the Bill. Once again, I want to repeat that unless Government comes in and helps the small scale farmers to value-add so that they can get the true value of their produce, then we shall be forever be selling our tea to blend other teas in the world and somebody else will get all the riches from our tea while our farmers continue wallowing in poverty. The more the farmer gets, the more the Government of Kenya gets by way of taxes and the more returns our people get from the tea industry. It is, therefore, in the interest of the country, not just of the farmers, that we streamline this industry. When factories are buying supplies like fertilizers and other things farmers are again missing money. That is why I am saying we need to have a regulator who can oversee standards. That will only be achieved if we think together, so that we protect our farmers, our hard work, eradicate or fight poverty and uplift the many Kenyans whom we represent. With those many words, I beg to support."
}