Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 978977,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/978977/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nambale, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Sakwa Bunyasi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "Secondly, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, one of the major failures was not within the sector. It was infrastructural. Earlier, there had been dedicated efforts to provide tea roads, power, and things like that, but when those utilities or infrastructure plans affecting roads failed, the tea sector was caught into it. During the old days, you could have bad roads but, as you enter the tea zones, you would get reasonably well-maintained roads. That was the way to go. When there is a general failure in the sector, off course, it affects commodities like those. I support this revival, relooking and rewriting of history with the expectation that it is something that the Government will carry across all sectors, where there are major commodities – major commodities either by virtue of their trade size, import substitution, or the inclusion to the food basket that goes on. I hope the wisdom that we gain will be applied across the board. The expectations of the county governments and Kenyan citizens on the national Government are such that the national Government is forced to cast their eyes across the land to get this done. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we justify many things by virtue of their importance as foreign exchange earners. Let us remember that a commodity or an activity might be very important because it earns foreign exchange, but it can equally be important because it saves foreign exchange. If you are unable to produce basic grains and cereals, you will import them. If you have grains or cereals that saves that import, it is very important in terms of the foreign exchange saving potential that it has. So, in looking at commodities, let us not get carried away simply by the earning aspect. We should look at their impact on foreign exchange. It could be earnings or savings, both of which are equally important. I do not see in the Bill, anything that will tame either the size or appetite of the Board to get as big as possible, to buy the most expensive cars, and so on. The old model worked well in coffee. I do not know how well it worked for tea. The old model provided for a certain proportion of the earnings in the coffee sector to finance research. In the days when that was done, coffee research in Kenya was of world standards. In the Far East, Papua New Guinea 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."
}