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{
"id": 978914,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/978914/?format=api",
"text_counter": 120,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Bomet Central, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Ronald Tonui",
"speaker": {
"id": 1242,
"legal_name": "Ronald Kiprotich Tonui",
"slug": "ronald-kiprotich-tonui"
},
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker for this opportunity to add my voice on this. I wish to strongly oppose this Bill because it does not go to the extent I expected. Going through this Bill, I found it to be too shallow. The intention of this Bill, majorly, is simply to create the Tea Board of Kenya, the same Board which we had before and which has been criticised by the farmers. I believe what we have here is a “cut and paste” of the same Act. There are many issues which small-scale farmers are facing which are not addressed in this Bill and are completely ignored. First of all, going through this Bill, even when it comes to penalties related to issues in the tea sector, we are seeing a maximum fine of Ksh20,000. Surely, in a multibillion sector where there are so many issues under dealings, we are talking of a fine of only Ksh20,000. That is peanuts in an area where we are talking of billions of shillings being squandered. Clause 33(1) of this Bill gives powers to the Cabinet Secretary to make regulations, which can be misused highly. That is like handing a blank cheque to the CS to write whatever he so wishes. Surely, that will not favour the small-scale farmers and it is going to be very unfair to them. It is specific in Clause 33(2)(d) where it gives the CS the power to decide on the fees which may be charged for anything done under this Act. I believe these are, surely, insane powers. We used to have what we call ad valorem levy which we fought against for many years in the 11th Parliament until we removed it. Now, we want to introduce it, through the back door, by giving many powers to the CS. You know, of course, the people who will be more accessible to the CS are cartels in the tea sector not the small-scale farmers. Surely, by giving these powers to the CS, we are being very much unfair to the small-scale farmers. The biggest problem which we currently have in the tea sector is the issue of marketing. We are relying on the same marketing strategy but, in this Bill, those issues are not included in the roles of the Tea Board of Kenya. They are not. It has created simply a regulator, but it is not touching on the marketing of tea. Somewhere in that Bill, under the regulatory provisions, one of the roles of the county governments is to regulate the markets of tea. It is somewhere in the regulatory provisions. I believe it is under Clause 20(1)(c). Surely, international trade is managed by the national Government. It is not managed by the county governments. I believe that it is really unfair. So, if we want to ensure that we build a tea sector, we must invest in new markets. The role of getting the new markets must be under the national Government. That one is ignored completely in this Bill. It is not mentioned anywhere. It is just statutory clauses of this Bill which are there and are “cut and paste”, but the core issue which is affecting the small-scale farmers is not addressed. When it comes to the issue of the members of the proposed Tea Board of Kenya, under the Council of Governors (CoG), I would have wished that the governors from tea growing areas should be the ones mandated to do this. However, here, we have reduced it into CoGs issues and ignored the specific interest of tea growing areas. In Clause 25 from (a) to (d), the Bill talks of the sources of funds of the Tea Board of Kenya. All of them are fake. It talks of donations, money received from well-wishers, et cetera . If it is a Government institution, how can you not provide a specific source of funding for the Board? Surely, if it is not clear, I cannot support it. Possibly, that one is hidden in the so-called The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}