{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=152976","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=152974","results":[{"id":1547942,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547942/?format=json","text_counter":114,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and MSMEs Development","speaker":null,"content":"On 6th June 2003, following a Cabinet directive, the Government of the Republic of Kenya bought back all the assets that had been sold to KCC (2000) Ltd. On 19th November 2004, New KCC Limited was incorporated as a limited liability company with a 100 per cent Government shareholding thus converting its status to a State Corporation under Certificate of incorporation no. C.113538. In the year 1988, during the subsistence of KCC Ltd, the claimants above filed an Industrial Case No.24 of 1988 wherein they had sued KCC Ltd following termination of their employment after a strike had been called by their union. The matter was heard and the court made a finding that KCC Ltd was liable to pay them. However, KCC Ltd had collapsed, went into liquidation and subsequently wound up and ceased to exist vide a Kenya Gazette Notice of 4th March, 2003."},{"id":1547943,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547943/?format=json","text_counter":115,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and MSMEs Development","speaker":null,"content":"At the time the claimants were filing the suit in the year 1988, New KCC Ltd was not in existence and, therefore, was not a party to the suit. Similarly, New KCC Ltd having not been in existence when the claimants were in employment, it was clearly not their employer. The said claimants were employees of KCC Ltd and not New KCC. Ltd., thus cannot be compensated by an organization they did not work for. New KCC Ltd and KCC Ltd cannot be said to be one and the same in law. Mr. Speaker, Sir, arresting orders that was subsequently issued on 15th November, 2005 was vested free from all encumbrances. In accordance with the Transfer of Business Act (TBA) Section 3 a public notice was done and was printed in the DailyNation on 28/6/2005 in regard to the Government's purchasing the business and assets of KCC (2000) Ltd. The employees did not object the notice to claim their dues as is required by the law and thus Section 8 of the same Act came into effect that a claimant cannot institute a claim in respect of any liability upon expiry of six (6) month. ln the year 2013, the claimants filed a suit Nairobi No.1299/2013 John Kahiato Bari & 108 Others Versus New KCC Ltd & The Attorney General seeking to be paid a sum of Kshs.204,417,555.50 at the High Court. 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":1547944,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547944/?format=json","text_counter":116,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and MSMEs Development","speaker":null,"content":"The matter was heard and concluded and the High court made a finding that New KCC Ltd was liable to pay KCC Ltd former employees dues. Subsequently, New KCC Ltd filed an appeal against the High Court decision at the court of appeal under Civil Appeal No.191 of 2018. A three (3)-Judge bench on 10/7/2020 held that New KCC Ltd was not liable for the liabilities of KCC Ltd which included the terminal benefits and unpaid Sacco shares of the said claimants. However, notwithstanding the above and the absolving of New KCC Ltd from the said liabilities in accordance with the law, the Appellate Judges implored upon the Attorney General's office verbatim- \"Having said so, however and legalities aside, we hold onto the hope that the Attorney General will find it in her to advise Government to honour its word and pay the 1st respondents who have suffered long.\" In view of the above comment by the Appellant Judges, my Ministry wrote to the Attorney General seeking an advisory on the same. ln a letter dated 3rd October 2024, Ref., no AG/CONF/6/B/18/2, the Attorney General provided an advisory which made several recommendations including- (1)The formation of an inter-ministerial committee consisting of the ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, The Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs Development and National Treasury to look into the matter and resolve the issue with finality. (2) The Committee should be tasked to collate, audit, verify, authenticate and validate the claims and recommend whether the same should be settled and to what extent with reasonable timelines. (3) That upon conclusion of its work, the petitioners should be engaged in out of court settlement with a view of finding an amicable solution to the impasse and notification of the outcome be done to the Senate. My Ministry has already written to the National Treasury, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development to nominate suitable officers to implement the Attorney General’s advisory. When the committee is constituted and completes its work, the recommendation thereof will be communicated to the Senate Part (b) of the Question was when can the affected former employees be expected to receive their terminal dues? My response is as follows: The former employees may be paid once the inter-ministerial committee completes its work and recommends payment and National Assembly appropriates the required funds in the National Budget."},{"id":1547945,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547945/?format=json","text_counter":117,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and MSMEs Development","speaker":null,"content":"Part (c) of the Question was could the Cabinet Secretary also indicate whether the former employees have recived payment for their cooperative society shares they held at the time of their exit from KCC and if not provide reasons for the same?"},{"id":1547946,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547946/?format=json","text_counter":118,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and MSMEs Development","speaker":null,"content":"My response is as follows-"},{"id":1547947,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547947/?format=json","text_counter":119,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and MSMEs Development","speaker":null,"content":"I am not aware of any complaints on payment of cooperative shares held by the time KCC Limited was liquidated. However, I am aware of claims of funds deducted from the then employees’ salaries that had not been remitted to their cooperative society 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":1547948,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547948/?format=json","text_counter":120,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and MSMEs Development","speaker":null,"content":"in respect of their shares. This amount is being considered together with other employment dues as explained in the above response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir."},{"id":1547949,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547949/?format=json","text_counter":121,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Kingi","speaker_title":"The Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Hon. Ogola, you may now ask your two supplementary questions."},{"id":1547950,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547950/?format=json","text_counter":122,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Ogola","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. My first supplementary questions is: Hon. CS, do you have an inventory of these former employees? If so, how many are they? You have said that they have suffered for so long. Do you know how many they are? What are the timelines of the finalities you have talked about in terms of the inter-ministerial committee work? Do you also have timelines for the letters that you have written to the National Treasury? The second question is: what is the state of the assets of the KCC Limited?"},{"id":1547951,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547951/?format=json","text_counter":123,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and MSMEs Development","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the full list of the number of employees affected. As I have stated, this has been an issue of a court case for a long time. The Ministry is aware of what was going on. I have clearly stated that this matter is now at the inter-ministerial level and we are doing all we can. These Kenyans have suffered for a long time. In fact, some of them have even passed on and these issues are now being followed by their siblings. We are committed to making sure that they get their dues as soon as we finalize our inter-ministerial consultation and as soon as proper appropriation is done by the National Assembly. Once that is done, these people will be paid. In terms of assets of the KCC, as I mentioned, KCC was bought by the New KCC and they took over all the assets. The Government then paid about Kshs500 million for that constellation of the assets and those assets are now under the ownership of the New KCC."}]}