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{
    "id": 979951,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/979951/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 197,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I hear the Members from areas that have tea as a predominant crop and I sympathise with the issues they have gone through and what the farmers are going through. But when I look at this Bill, I see nothing that will solve those problems. So, allow me to oppose the Bill. I am doing that because we may be using the wrong instrument to solve the problem of the farmer. I hear concerns about the role that KTDA plays in terms of sorting out or messing up with the farmers’ issues. But this House cannot legislate against KTDA which is a private company. The most we can do is move the regulatory powers from AFA to an independent regulator, which is exactly what we had before 2012. There was a regulator for every crop and each of those regulators had a board of directors, an institution, a CEO and costs. All those costs were being passed to the farmer through cess, because they had to be maintained. If the cost was not to the farmer, it was to the Kenyan public. In the wisdom of the then Government, all those were collapsed to create one AFA. In fact, it was even complete with livestock, but livestock was then removed because it was necessary for issues of livestock and crops to be separated. Therefore, if the Agricultural and Tea Department within the AFA has failed to regulate the tea sector, a tea board would carry the same inefficiencies as the department is doing. The regulator is the same; the composition and the members of the board is still the same. It is still the Principal Secretary (PS) for Agriculture who is in the AFA and who will also be in the Tea Board. Therefore, to solve the problem, we need to find a solution outside a Tea Bill. We need to look at a way of regulating and not only for tea, but even all the other crops. When I listen to my dear friend, Hon. Oundo, he seems to suggest that since cotton is also having problems, then we should have Cotton Board of Kenya; coffee should also have Coffee Board of Kenya; Potatoes Board of Kenya, Cabbage Board of Kenya and Carrot Board of Kenya. We should have a board for every crop that has a problem; avocado board, quail board… We will end up with all those things and it will not end up well for this country. It does not enhance efficiency and actually creates a bloated situation where the only popular person will be the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Agriculture because he can appoint all his friends into all those boards as it was happening before. And that is how they will all became inefficient. Therefore, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, when you now look at all these things, I would ask that, perhaps, the Committee on Agriculture and Livestock is not exactly providing the solutions that the farmer wants. We need to get better solutions for how we can enhance the issue of regulation, how KTDA can be brought to account so that it does not exploit farmers and how the carrot brokers can be brought to account to prevent them from exploiting farmers in Kinangop. We have been having the same problem with potatoes being sold in those large sacks. However, the solution has only been provided by limiting the weight and the packaging, rather than creating a potatoes board. Therefore, I think given the cash and budget constraints we are having, you can even see in this Bill that there is no provision for support by the National Treasury. The Board will have to raise its money from farmers - the same farmers who claim that they have reduced income from the market. If that is the case, are we helping the farmers or 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."
}