Daniel Kitonga Maanzo

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 361 to 370 of 1514.

• 26 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: compliant and the BBI Report is online and so, I believe quite a number of people will access and read it online. A lot of fraud and crimes are also happening online. Again, this affects the youth. So, we need to come up with legislation dealing with the youth, who are now 75 per cent of the country. The primary law is the law relating to the Youth Council. The elections are very competitive. It is like a lot of people who have participated in politics while they are young, whether in university or at the Youth Council, have found ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Thank you Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to comment on this important piece of legislation. I used to be in the Committee on Agriculture and Livestock in the last Parliament and at one time, there was a very big problem between KTDA and tea farmers in Meru and Hon. Kareke Mbiuki, Hon. Kathuri Murungi and the new Governor for Tharaka Nithi, Hon. Muthomi Njuki, took us to that region. We went to meet farmers for three or four days and they were willing to cut down all the tea bushes since they were of no more ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this kind of precedence will open a Pandora’s Box. Everyone will rush to have their own boards and this will kill the AFA. view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: We, therefore, need to look at what could be wrong with AFA. Is it overloaded? Is it about cartels or lack of proper supervision? In this Bill, I do not think the farmers’ problems have been addressed. For that particular reason, who are we legislating for if we are not sorting out the farmers’ problems? On that basis and unless we improve this Act during the Third Reading, this proposed Bill will fail as it does not address the farmer’s plight at all. If we are to help the farmer, we need to bring the farmer on board. One way ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: We must come up with a law which deals with agencies. The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) is already a legal body within the framework of legal provisions of the Company’s Act. It still exists and you cannot wind it up unless its membership so decides; it cannot be through legislation. view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Therefore, although there is a good move by the great Senator who proposed this law, we still have not solved the problem of the farmer. If we are not legislating for the farmer, we have not done much. For that reason, during the Third Reading, we have to come up with proposals led by the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock and any other Member from the tea growing area who understands the issues. This is so that we do not pass an Act which goes to the President for assent and comes back here with recommendations and deletions as ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Certain provisions like the one that has been read by Hon. Kimunya, among others, are contradictory to already existing laws. I am happy the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock is here and I can see a number of Hon. Members. I believe you stand for the farmers and you will do something for the farmers when we come to the Third Reading. While I was in the Committee of Agriculture and Livestock, we visited the tea auctions in Mombasa. There is a lot of activity which involves tea business. We even have tasters, different qualities, prices ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: At times, the auctioning process becomes very tricky even for the brokers and the farmers to make money out of tea, which is a very expensive crop to manage in terms of taking care of it to get the desired results. There are even labour issues involving tea and mechanisation issues. It means the moment we begin dealing with tea, let us deal with it in totality. Let us find out where the AFA Act has failed so that it can be amended and rectified. If not so, let us find out a universal way of sorting out this matter ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: In other provisions, we are creating a board, a new authority which will definitely need in its initial stages, a budget for the main budgetary provisions. It means at some point farmers will have to raise money for this board. In my opinion, we are now going back to what we were trying to avoid when AFA was created. view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: During that time, this House, and the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock in which I was a member was pushed by the Executive because a problem needed to be sorted out; part of which was to save - through reduced boards and a centralised system. I have had an opportunity to interact with AFA officials currently while dealing with coffee. They have a burden even by the coffee crop alone! When it comes to sugar and other crops, there is a serious challenge. So, we have not yet even scratched the surface of dealing with the crops in this ... view