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{
    "id": 979952,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/979952/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 198,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "burdening them further by creating a bureaucracy that they will support and it is not guaranteed to do anything better than what is already being done by the department? Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I just wanted to flush out those issues because yes, we know there is a problem. We know there should be solutions. However, that solution - in my view - may not lie in moving one bureaucracy from a department and elevating it to a full-blown board. You will only multiply the cost by ten-fold and that cost has to be paid for by somebody. Therefore, let us sit down and look for a solution for the farmer and all the farmers across the board, but certainly not by creating another bureaucracy. I am also worried by the proliferation of those boards - that is if we pass this Bill. It will open a Pandora’s box for the agitation of a board for every crop. We will end up exactly where we were before we reformed. So, we cannot be doing reforms one time as a Parliament - which was passed in 2012 in the wisdom of this Parliament- and then all of a sudden, we then re-open and pass a whole new law that creates dysfunctional bodies when circumstances could be handled slightly differently. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, regardless of whether my views are taken by other Members on this, I also want to bring to the attention of the House to a provision within clause 22 of this Bill. It is something I have never seen in any other Bill. It says that this new Tea Board will prepare some annual estimates in their budget. However, very surprisingly, at clause 22(3), it says that: “22(3): The annual estimates prepared by the board under subsection (2) shall be submitted to the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for tabling in Parliament.” When did you ever see a parastatal having their accounts tabled in this House? You can now see the grand thinking of this new Tea Board; it is something at par with the Judiciary, with Parliament and the rest of the bodies so that their accounts will be tabled here - I do not even know. So, it is a poorly drafted Bill. It just cuts and copies what was there before but now, creates some other issues. I believe that the technical staff will help in editing to, at least, remove this provision which does not make any sense to anyone and which even if they are tabled here, what do we do with estimates of a parastatal? It is neither for us to approve nor finance. But it just shows you the thinking behind the drafting; that they were in a rush and some things were not done right. Therefore, I would suggest that Clause 22(3) is removed. Obviously, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I sympathise with the farmers and the Members of Parliament in the tea-growing areas. But this problem is not unique to tea. It is unique to every crop in this country. It is the same problems we are having with milk farmers in Nyandarua having to pour their milk and dogs are running away when they see the cows coming in for milking because they know they will be forced to drink the milk. Therefore, it is a wider issue of reforms within the agriculture sector. Let us not do them from a micro-position – that is looking for small solutions surrounding each crop. Let us look at the bigger picture of how to reform agriculture across Kenya. First of all, let us take note that agriculture is a devolved function and hence, what is each of the governors doing. I know the big entourage is moving around but what are they doing in their specific areas where crops are specific to certain areas to ensure farmers get their fair share of income and a reward for their labour through pricing, better marketing, value addition and all those things? However, creating Tea Board of Kenya will just complicate matters, obviously open up for all the other crops to agitate for the same and we are going to have a conflict with the Council of Governors (COG) and, at the end, the farmers will be no better. In fact, they will be worse off because they will have to pay for all those bodies through cess and all that. 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."
}