Hon Ruth W Mwaniki

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 131 to 140 of 184.

• 27 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: I am happy these days we see interventions where livestock is bought from farmers particularly during drought. We should do those kinds of interventions in every sector which our people are relying on like tea, coffee and livestock. view
• 27 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: We should not be shy to put our resources where they are needed. If we can put billions of shillings on a road and an energy project, which are also important, why would we find it difficult to support our farmers? These are the key drivers of economy at the grassroots level. I would like the Committee to not only look at the area of research and reviving the CRI, but also to look at the taskforce report that they alluded to, which is annexed to their Report, and come up with issues that we can legislate here to revive ... view
• 27 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: With those few remarks, I beg to support. Thank you. 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
• 25 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I too, like my colleagues, rise to support the Tea Bill, 2018. We all know the contribution the tea industry has made to the economy of our country. It is rather unfortunate that the regulation of the industry was locked up in AFA. I am happy that this Bill has come at the right time and it will address many issues. I have read both the Bill and the Report of the Committee. I have seen various recommendations by the Committee. I have also listened to proposed amendments that seek to streamline some of the issues ... view
• 25 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, in my view, ensuring that the farmer gets a little bit more, by allocating Ksh24 billion to transaction costs out of a sale of Ksh69 billion is extremely high. There are high labour and energy costs in the operations of the tea processing factories. Many of my colleagues have talked about automation of the factories. I believe that the Tea Board of Kenya will look into that. Over the years, the tea industry has continued to use old technology whose cost eats into the farmers’ earnings. It is a pity because, while two-thirds of my constituency consists of ... view
• 25 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, much has been said about marketing and value addition. The story of value addition to our crops such as tea and coffee has been over-emphasised for the last over one decade, but nothing has been done. The issue is we focus the times on the wrong market. It is very hard for you to take KETEPA tea and compete with Lipton tea. However, we have put a lot of efforts as a country on the area of intra-African trade. What we need to perfect through the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture is to ... view
• 25 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: I worked with the Ministry of Trade. I once went to Nigeria and they had KETEPA tea in their kiosks. But they wanted to get it on a regular supply. I also went to Lubumbashi and encountered the same scenario and so, we need to get a mechanism. This did not come out clearly in the Bill. We need to talk to the Committee Members and the Ministry, and then 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
• 25 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: suggest amendments at the Committee stage. It did not come out clearly on how the Board will be financed in the area of marketing. This is because marketing is not just about putting an advert, but ensuring that the product that is value-added reaches the correct market where it will find value and buyers. view
• 25 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, tea is the most taxed crop after coffee. We have 42 taxes levied on tea and this is extreme. I hope the Committee will look into those areas and, at the time the CS for Agriculture will be allowing rules to operationalise the Tea Act, we will address how we can do away with some of those unnecessary taxes. The issue of affordable value addition also comes with the quality and we hope that the Tea Board will be strong enough to work with other players like the Ministries concerned to ensure that the quality of the Kenyan ... view
• 25 Feb 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, it is hard to introduce amendments at the Third Stage. We will bring them at the Committee stage after talks with the Committee and the Ministry. The President addressed some of them when he talked recently and there was a lot of expectation from the tea farmers. He said that 90 days after the delivery of the green leaves, we expect payment of at least 50 per cent to the farmers. ` However, those are the issues that ought to be looked into because the farmers get frustrated and we kill the goose that lays the golden egg. ... view