Rigathi Gachagua

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 61 to 70 of 85.

• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Tea Bill 2018. I must say that this Bill could not have come at a better time. You know that when the various Boards that were looking after various crops were collapsed under AFA, there was no proper attention to this sub-sector. 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. view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: The tea sub-sector is very important for the economy of this country and, more so, to the farmers. I would like to disagree with Hon. Kimunya who argued that tea is just like another crop like potatoes and carrots. They are also very important food crops. However, Hon. Kimunya may not know because he does not have tea in his constituency. However, as a former Minister for Finance, he knows the amount of foreign exchange the tea products earn this country. As such, it requires special attention. When all those products were put under one body, they were not given ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: As a result of that lack of proper regulatory supervision, the cartels in KTDA have taken over the industry. They have overrun and exploited farmers to an extent that those who work so hard and toil everyday have become destitute or paupers in their country. They have become beggars. In this year’s bonus, the farmers in Kagochi Tea Factory in my constituency got Kshs28. They are not even able to pay their bills. Ndima Tea Factory got Ksh32 only. This is because the people who have taken over the industry, because of lack of supervision, have become cartels and they ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: We want agencies like KTDA. This was a public body which was illegally converted to a private company. They have been exploiting the farmer. Under this framework, we want KTDA to become a public body that will be audited by the Auditor-General and will be subjected to the laws that govern other public bodies. As it is now, they just do what they want and the farmer is the loser in all the instances. We have situations that we want the Tea Board of Kenya to look into, in terms of representation of the farmer. Today, we do not have ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: have a marketing function which is similar to the Kenya Tourist Board where the Government can put in money, so that they can look for the best market possible for tea farmers. As it is, our farmers work so hard every day, but they have nothing to take home. This kills their morale to a point where in my place, farmers are uprooting tea. We told them not to do it now. With this proposed Bill, this House will come up with the necessary legislation to protect them. So, they should not uproot tea. They should be patient. We will ... view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Once we are through with the Tea Board of Kenya, we also want to revert to the Coffee Board of Kenya. Those two crops are very important. They are major foreign exchange earners. They need to be dealt with exclusively as sub-sectors and given due attention. view
• 20 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: With those very many remarks, I beg to support the Bill. Thank you. view
• 4 Dec 2019 in National Assembly: Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Bill because it is timely. There has been an outcry by our contractors who are owed over Kshs80 billion. The properties of many of them have been auctioned. Many of their companies have shut down. If you have looked at the daily newspapers for the last one year, every morning, we have had over 10 pages of auctions. Most of the affected are road contractors who have rendered services to the Government. This has broken families. It has made people who have been very hardworking and very enterprising to ... view
• 4 Dec 2019 in National Assembly: Recently, a leading newspaper held a party for auctioneers. The party was to thank the auctioneers for a good job done by selling people’s property. If this bond sees the light of day by getting the legislative framework from this House, all the contractors will be paid what they are owed by the Government and there will be money circulation in the economy. Kenyans are crying that there is no money in this country because most people who have rendered services to Government have not been paid. Through this bond, Kshs80 billion will be paid to contractors and this money ... view
• 4 Dec 2019 in National Assembly: We have so many road tenders that have been awarded. The construction started but along the way, the contractors have abandoned the sites because they have not been paid. With the enactment of this Bill to get those roads bond, all those roads will get on course and they will be completed within the contract period. We run the risk of roads that have been awarded for completion between two years to three years going between eight to 10 years. This is a situation that is not acceptable. As such, once this has been done, it will be very good ... view