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"id": 86591,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kathuri",
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"speaker": {
"id": 38,
"legal_name": "Emilio Mureithi Kathuri",
"slug": "emilio-kathuri"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to start by thanking the Minister for introducing this Bill which is very timely and long overdue. Farmers have been subjected to a lot of problems. I think the only way is to address their problems by introducing a Bill that will take care of their issues. While I appreciate the intention of this Bill, I still find that it has so many shortcomings. From the word go, the composition of the Board looks extremely skewed because the farmer is not represented. We may say that the farmers have two slots out of 11 but, surely, they are better off without having the two slots because they will just be there to rubber-stamp what the nine will have endorsed. A realistic composition should be the three Government PSs responsible for agriculture, finance and trade. That is in order! But from there, all the other eight should all come from farmers bodies and completely exclude the brokers. There is no reason why a tea auctioneer should sit where he is the agenda. It will not serve the interest of the farmer at all. If you look at the scenario as we talk, they are the ones who go home with money. The farmer is left as a scavenger. I think it is very important for that issue to be addressed so that the slot for the auctioneer and the packer should both go to the farmer. Even the two slots which are meant for nomination by the Minister, should all be left to the farmer. Where we say the Minister will appoint to try and address the discrepancy in terms of capacity, she should take the minimum requirements so that those farmersâ representatives should be people who merit to hold those big offices. Otherwise, there is no need for the Government to try and come through backdoor and introduce an accountant, when it should have, from the word go, given the minimum requirement. That way, one can see that the Boardâs composition is not deficient."
}