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{
    "id": 980712,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/980712/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 323,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David ole Sankok",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 78,
        "legal_name": "Cecily Mutitu Mbarire",
        "slug": "cecily-mbarire"
    },
    "content": "We will protect tea farmers, but they should reciprocate by making sure that they support us when we bring Bills, which I will soon do, to protect our livestock farming. We also need to protect those who cannot survive on crop farming because they have wildlife in their regions. All of these contribute to the economy of this country. Agriculture is the backbone of our country’s economy. Tea farming alone is employing five million Kenyans. If five million Kenyans lose jobs the way jobs were lost in the sisal and cotton industries, then we will be facing a disaster as a country. One of the Big Four Agenda of the President is manufacturing. What will we be manufacturing when we do not produce? Another one is food security. How will we have food security when our farmers do not have purchasing power of food or anything else because we have killed our agricultural sector? Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we support this Bill 100 per cent and it should be enacted. I urge this House not only to pass this Bill, but also to follow up to its implementation. I know my President will assent to the Bill as quickly as possible because from January, he started protecting tea farmers. So, I am sure he will assent to this Bill. However, the bigger part will remain in terms of implementation. Let us protect our farmers from the so-called cartels. Cartels involved in corruption will kill this country. We are pointing many fingers at the Government because of corruption. The private sector is the one doing business with the Government. They are the cartels who bribe Government procurement officers. Cartels are not only in the tea industry, for instance, at the KTDA, but all over. If we start sending a warning to the cartels at the KTDA, I am sure there will be shivers among all cartels in this country. I urge all the Members of this House to support, pass this Bill and follow up on its implementation. We should also be ready for as many Bills as possible to protect all our crop and livestock farmers. They need our protection and they can only be protected by this House. Lastly, as I go to sit down, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, let us not only think of agriculture alone as a House. At the moment, pastoralist regions are facing a disaster from a disease called the Blue Tongue Mouth Rot which affects sheep. In Kimaasai it is called"
}