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{
    "id": 910453,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/910453/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 74,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support the Petition by Mr. Isaac Mugo who is challenging the dominance and oppression of the KTDA and large-scale producers in the tea sector. The Senator for Kericho County should know that you do not have to come from a tea growing area to know about tea. We just finished a report on maize and Sen. Seneta here from a non-maize growing area was one of the most industrious and productive Members of the Committee. The coffee sector used to have similar problems. It took a man called Mbiu Koinange, in 1912, to challenge the Queen’s Government and the rules that oppressed small-scale farmers in the tea sector. The biggest problem in farming is what the distinguished Senator for Migori County has said. In 2011, in a hurry to fix the new Constitution, all agricultural statutes were collapsed into one called the AFA. That was the beginning of a myriad of problems in the agricultural sector. With the AFA, the sugar sector regulator disappeared with farmers’ money amounting to over Kshs25 billion. Today, the sugar factories like Sony, Nzoia, Mumias, Muhoroni and others are on the brink of death. Mr. Mugo is giving this House a catalytic move for the Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries--- I cannot see the Chairperson here but I think Sen. Ochillo-Ayacko is a Member of the Committee. They should take advantage and carry out a critical review and unbundle all the statutes that collapsed into the AFA, so that we have proper regulation of crops, areas where they are grown, the value chain process and so on, and so forth. The problem in the tea sector is not just about voting rights. We had uproar in the last Senate when Kenya Tea Development Agency Holdings Limited (KTDA) unilaterally and unreasonably decreed that the tea bonus in some parts of the country was going to be paid at Kshs48 and Kshs16 in other parts of the country such as Bomet. Nobody knew how they arrived at that decision. We are now left to ask; who will watch the watchers? Who will regulate the regulators? That is why this Senate is here to protect and defend the interest of counties and the people. Lastly, I join you in welcoming my brothers and sisters from Kakamega. They should feel at home and learn as much as they possibly can. This is a house of reason, appeal and revision. In this House, we debate issues without emotion."
}