HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1608389,
"next": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=154836",
"previous": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=154834",
"results": [
{
"id": 1566542,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566542/?format=api",
"text_counter": 295,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1566543,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566543/?format=api",
"text_counter": 296,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "think we over legislate and we are in the business of creating offices for certain individuals. One of the biggest problems that I have with this piece of legislation is the establishment of the director of cooperatives at the national level. There is establishment of a director of cooperative at the county level. I have had a very negative experience on the issue of cooperatives. The process is selective and it is predetermined. Once you become selective in the process of registering a cooperative society, you predetermine how even the bylaws should be drafted and that is a recipe for disaster. If we had fully implemented the Warehouse Receipt System Act, today, the farmers in Narok County would not be using empty fields to dry their wheat. They would send money into county governments, set up warehouses, set up silos and driers so that the moisture content in wheat can be one that millers can come and buy and farmers can benefit. Today, when we come here with a very long Bill - I am still reading it; it has about 284 pages long. My only conclusion is that we are going the wrong direction. We are over legislating. We talk about devolution. Agriculture is devolved. By and large, when we interrogate this Bill, it talks about produce; how people can come together, work together to be able to produce. Today, we have a Cabinet Secretary in charge of cooperatives, but this Bill wants to set up a director of cooperatives at the national level. Then what is the job of that Cabinet Secretary, if we have a director at the national level? Agriculture is devolved, health is devolved, but we are still clawing back on devolution. When it comes to the Committee of the Whole, of this Bill, we must scrutinize and go through it with a toothpick to ensure that, firstly, we do not over legislate; secondly, we do not create offices for particular individuals who will be living large, collecting money from farmers or members of a cooperative, drive big SUVs and live in Karen, yet the farmers themselves struggle in terms of developing and storing their produce. Then once they sell, these directors come and say, we want our levy. I have always had a problem with the Kenya Dairy Board because I think it is completely misplaced. It does not understand the challenges that farmers go through; the adulteration of the milk in this country or the challenges that women in our counties face when they do not have a proper call chain. I wish the Kenya Dairy Board was investing heavily in developing a good call chain, so that when farmers milk, they take it directly to the call chain without going through brokers."
},
{
"id": 1566544,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566544/?format=api",
"text_counter": 297,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "We must stop over legislating. I wish this Bill was talking about a process where the Government will invest in the farmers by giving them subsidies setting up cooperatives for free."
},
{
"id": 1566545,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566545/?format=api",
"text_counter": 298,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I even spoke to the Cabinet secretary. I was trying to register a cooperative in Narok, but was taken rounds in circles. I just ended up registering a limited liability company and said that based on how I work with the farmers, I could give shares."
},
{
"id": 1566546,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566546/?format=api",
"text_counter": 299,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1566547,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566547/?format=api",
"text_counter": 300,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Sometimes it is a bit frustrating. We need to sit with the county governments. I would support the proposal of setting up a county and not the national director of cooperatives. Let the Cabinet Secretary deal with issues of cooperatives. When we go down to the county level, a County Executive Committee Member (CECM) in charge of agriculture can then appoint a director of cooperatives. The CECM or CEO in charge of cooperatives ensures that every county budgets for money that is supposed to build these cooperative movements."
},
{
"id": 1566548,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566548/?format=api",
"text_counter": 301,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, about 10 years ago, I travelled to Brazil to study the cooperatives system there. I was mesmerized. That is why when we came to debate the warehouse Receipt Bill, which is now an Act, at least everything was making sense to me."
},
{
"id": 1566549,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566549/?format=api",
"text_counter": 302,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Cooperative movements in countries such as Brazil have their own community banks. Farmers have their own warehouses where they bring their produce. It is a cooperative where they have their membership. It is not a matter of a big but rather a small government."
},
{
"id": 1566550,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566550/?format=api",
"text_counter": 303,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "This case seems to be misadvise in terms of where we want the Government to be in every little pocket. A big government is not going to help us. Creating a job for a nationwide director of cooperatives is not going to help us. The first things should be to ask county governments to set up cooperatives movements."
},
{
"id": 1566551,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566551/?format=api",
"text_counter": 304,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "In Narok county, we have six constituencies. We know what does well in Emurua Dikirr, Kilgoris, Narok South, Narok West, Narok East and Narok North. Before coming here, I had a meeting with gentlemen from Narok North. Of course, they were disgruntled because of land issues. Some of them were left out when Mau Forest was being surveyed and still have a genuine case. These are farmers who grow wheat and barley. The most important things is to bring them together and make sure they have good silos to store their produce and good driers, so that they will not be selling to brokers who then come and turn part of Narok Central into a drying field. There is a place called Emashariani two kilometers before one gets into Narok Town. There are makeshift silos, but people do not even use them because of the moisture content. You will then see a field which is about 20 acres. During the harvesting season, that field will be littered with grain. Down about a kilometer away, there is the Kenya Cereals and Produce Board. People come individually and dry their wheat there. Once the wheat moisture content has reduced, they now take it to the silos for the millers to buy. We need to do things differently and not only come up with such a huge Bill, but develop legislation that can encourage a small government rather than a big government. We need to come up with legislation that will ensure that it creates wealth rather than overburden farmers. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when the Kenya Dairy Board today is saying that you need to pay this levy. Tomorrow, with the passage of this Bill, the co-operative members will have to pay money. Why? We are being overtaxed on a daily basis. For me, the four-tier structure of these co-operatives is a lot of bureaucracy for nothing. Why do you have to create four tiers? It is like the other piece of legislation we were discussing here the other day, the Coffee Bill. It now requires that a buyer be"
}
]
}