Hon. Members, we do not seem to have the required quorum. Therefore, I order that the bell be rung for 10 minutes.

Order, Hon. Members! Order, Member for Narok North. Please, take your seat. Let us stop the bell. I order that the bell stops and then business begins.

The rest of the Members, please, take your seats. We have a Notice of Motion by the Leader of the Majority Party. I think the Whip of the Majority Party will be taking the Floor on his behalf.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Before I give notice of this Motion, I want to thank Members, especially those who were in the breakfast area. They had to stop their breakfast to come in and give quorum. I appreciate because some of them had to just cover what they were eating. I think that is a very high level of commitment to this House.

On behalf of the Leader of the Majority Party, I beg to give notice of the following Motion: 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.

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order No.28(4) under the Calendar of the Assembly, notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order No.30(1), which is under “Hours of Meeting”, this House resolves not to hold a sitting on Thursday, 31st October 2019, in the afternoon. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker.

Very well. Next Order!

Hon. Deputy Speaker, I beg to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government the following Question: (i) What are the steps being taken by the Ministry to stop hawking of harvested tea leaves which have caused increased cases of theft of harvested tea from farmers in Lari Constituency? (ii) What measures is the Ministry undertaking to ensure lasting security with regard to harvested tea leaves in order to protect farmers from losses? This Question is to be replied to before the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security.

I am considering not to refer that Question before any committee because you have taken powers that are beyond the ones you have. I am not so sure. If you have referred it yourself, then I do not know what role I am supposed to play. I will keep quiet and see if actually it will be referred.

On a point of order, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

What is it, Hon. Sankok?

Hon. Deputy Speaker, those powers are reserved for the Speaker. I do not know where Hon. Jonah Mburu got them. I have tried as much as possible to educate some of these “monos” and it is proving very difficult. I will have to take them to your lounge. I will take over from you.

Hon. Sankok, you are out of order. There are no “monos” in this Assembly. Even from its description, “mono” means one. Every Member here is probably doing a second term. If there is a mono, they could be one or two who came the other day. However, we do not have that term here. We left it to other institutions that are currently undertaking exams. 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.

On this particular one, the Member for Lari was anxious to have his Question answered. So, he decided to refer it himself. I will help him to regularise that referral. So, this particular Question will be referred to the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security. Any other previous referral is hereby nullified. So, the one that will be taken is this one. Let us proceed to the next Question. The Member for Kisii County has made a request that it be deferred. Therefore, Question 422/2019 is deferred.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, I beg to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government the following Question: (i) Could the Cabinet Secretary provide the number of persons recruited by the Kenya Prisons Service across the country during the exercise held on 9th October 2019, indicating the number recruited per sub-county and per gender? (ii) How many persons were recruited from each of the locations in Mwatate Sub- County?

Very well. That Question will be replied to before the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security. The last Question would have been by the Member for Kajiado Central, Hon. Memusi. He has also made a request for deferral and I accept it. The Question is, therefore, deferred to the next available opportunity.

Hon. Members, on this particular one, the matter had been transacted to its finality. I confirm that we have the requisite numbers for the Question to be put.

We have one hour and 14 minutes. I am trying to confirm who was last on the Floor in case they had any balance of time. I will also check the list. Hon. Gideon Keter had a balance of seven minutes. I do not know if he is in. If he is, he is at liberty to proceed. I do not see him in the House. I will, therefore, give the next available Member, Hon. Iringo Kubai. Just to confirm, have you spoken on this Motion, Hon. Kubai?

No, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Proceeed.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion by Hon. John Wambugu in regard to the hierarchy of education in this country. I commend the Member for coming up with this Motion to complement what the Government is already doing in as far as free education and transition are concerned. Furthermore, he is putting emphasis on what happens after one is done with secondary level education. This Motion is timely. Currently, in as much as the Government is struggling to see that each child goes to school, gets educated and reaches a level they can, the rest thereafter is left to the parents and the students. Once the students are left on their own, especially those from poor families, they do not get any further training and, therefore, they just go to the job market without skills. Others do not even get to the job market, but engage in other activities which end up spoiling the children and the young generation. If the Government can afford free primary education where pupils are educated up to Standard Eight, and now the Jubilee Government has emphasized on every child who gets to Standard Eight transiting to Form One and completes high school, before we get to the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), the same emphasis should continue from Form Four. What happens to that student? They are still teenagers. They are young and need to develop skills before they mature so that they can proceed. But if they are left at that level and they do not continue, despite the efforts, the input and the resources that have been put by the Government from Standard One to Form Four, they will go to waste. It will just be water under the bridge because from there, the child requires skills mostly. I appreciate the fact that the Government is trying to put up tertiary technical training institutes in every constituency and the emphasis should be continued and fast-tracked. But these institutions charge some fees. If one has been sponsored up to Form Four, and the sponsorship ends there, you do not proceed to a tertiary institution. So, it is important for the Government to factor in some money in its Budget, so that when one gets to Form Four, then they are sponsored to go to university if they qualify. They are also sponsored to go to technical training institutes to acquire skills which can make them earn a daily living. They can be sponsored to train as nurses, teachers or any other training. Once we end it there, it becomes very difficult. I am not forgetting the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) which gives loans to the needy students. I am aware even in the technical training institutes, some subsidy is given by the Government, but that is not enough. A student is required to get his own hostel. The student is supposed to get tools for the training and get food and many other accessories, which are required for the technical jobs. So, I agree with Hon. Wambugu that we need to push further and get 100 per cent transition, 100 per cent sponsorship and 100 per cent follow-up. Once the youngsters are through with their education, they are accomplished plumbers, masons, machine operators, carpenters or any other field in which they have trained. When they go to the job market, they are resourceful. Presently, students leave Form Four with good marks, but they do not go to university. At the end of the day, they become boda boda operators or hustlers here and there, hawking small 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.

things on the streets. That does not make ends meet. Others go to drugs while others go to crime and many other vices in the community. I strongly recommend this Motion, which will put more material in what the Government is doing to see to it that we have 100 per cent transition of our students in learning institutions. Let it be law. Let it be mandatory that it is the responsibility of the Government to continue from there. I strongly believe that the resources that are required for this bit of training after Form Four are much lower than what the Government is already putting in. So, we just need to increase the budget a little bit and at the end of the day, we shall have this accomplished. I support the Motion, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Next will be Hon. Makali Mulu, if he has not spoken on this.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I want to confirm that I have not spoken to this Motion. From the outset, I support the Motion. I thank the Mover, Hon. John Wambugu, for this important Motion. We know it is now Government policy that we have 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary schools. This Motion is proposing the same 100 per cent transition from secondary school to tertiary institutions, which will promote vocational training. This Motion is important because when you look at the Vision 2030 and the Big Four Agenda, you realise that there is a lot of push towards industrialisation. We have come to the realisation that for this country to grow and have sustained growth, we need to do much more in industrialisation. When I look at the objective of the Motion, I realise that it is well targeted in terms of achieving that goal. Once students clear Form Four, most of them join universities. Very few would join vocational institutions especially those from rich families. Very few of our children from poor backgrounds manage to move beyond Form Four basically because they cannot afford the fees to join tertiary institutions. We have polytechnics and technical institutions, but you realise a big number of students just go out there and engage in activities which are not sustainable in terms of generating income. One of the areas which has really taken care of the students who are not able to join vocational institutions is the boda boda business. When you look at the business of

you realise it is not sustainable. Someone cannot be a boda boda rider up to the retirement age. Some will not continue to get income for a long time. It is just for a short time and they start doing other things. Looking at vocational training, this is an area which has a huge demand in this country in terms of skills. I want to give you an example. If you want to put up a small commercial structure in your local town and you are looking for a plumber, an electrician or a carpenter, you might have to wait for a week or two to get such people there. This is basically because most of our youth are no longer interested in these areas. I can tell you for sure that this is an area which will guarantee our youth self-employment and sustainable employment. Why am I saying so? For you to hire a plumber, they no longer charge per day because they know the demand is so high. It is now more of piece rate. They tell you that they want to work for you in the area and you have to pay Kshs5,000. Imagine he will take two to three days, four hours each, and he gets his Kshs5,000 in his pocket and moves to another job. This is the way to go. This Motion is good for this country. If it can be implemented - although we are only urging the Government and I wish we could move to the next level - it would make sure that our youth are self-employed. You also realise that through vocational training, our daughters and sons who are living with disability can do a lot of work. For example, I went to the Kitui School for the Mentally Handicapped the other day, because I had done some work for them, and I was impressed by the things they are doing despite their disabilities. They have been trained and are able to make very 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.

good kiondo . They are able to make very good decorations. What was very encouraging is that when they sell the items, the money goes to their accounts. This also provides another opportunity where even those who are challenged physically have a way of sustaining themselves. I know most of them are engaged in small businesses like selling biscuits. However, once they get the skills, the disability is addressed. They are able to do this because it is a life-line kind of activity. I really want to thank Members because most of us are supportive through the payment of fees for children in polytechnics who are undertaking vocational training. We are supplementing what the Government is doing in terms of capitation. Hence this is an area where Members can push for more resources to make sure that the students who do not go to secondary school and university access polytechnics. I can assure Members that they will get value for that investment. Hon. Deputy Speaker, there are also corporate institutions, for example, banks and I want to single out the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), who have come up with programmes where those who have been trained are provided with equipment. If you are trained as a salonist, you are given the necessary tools. If you have been trained in welding, you are provided with the relevant equipment on a small loan where you repay back at a low interest rate. I want to encourage more corporates to get into that area, not only of giving loans, but to give grants as a way of social corporate responsibility. They should provide grants to such students, so that they can employ themselves. Self-employment is the way to go. This idea of going to offices to look for formal jobs, what we used to call the white-collar jobs, is no longer obtainable. Time has come for people to think more of self-employment. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the other thing that is important is the issue of critically looking at the issue of financing those who have graduated. We must have more grants from corporate institutions. The Government needs to come up with a proper mechanism to make sure that we have a budget provision so that once students graduate, they are provided with tools. If that happens, I can see this country going far in terms of achieving the Vision 2030 and the Big Four Agenda, especially on housing. The arrangement is that through the housing pillar, once you are given the houses to construct as a contractor, anything to do with windows, doors and any other small bits have to be locally manufactured by Kenyans. If it is welding, Kenyans will come up with all the windows. If it is the doors, our carpenters will go out there and make sure we have them. We are talking about thousands of doors and windows. If that is the way to go, then I can see this country generating employment for our youth. At the same time, we will make sure that money goes into our people’s pockets. As I conclude, I urge Hon. Wambugu that after this Motion urging the Government is passed, to seriously think about upgrading it into a Bill, so that it becomes something that can be enforced in this House. That way, we can force the Government to allocate a budget to this important Motion. With those remarks, I support. Thank you.

Hon. Mude, the Floor is yours.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Kindly allow me to use this minute. I had requested using his card.

Hon. Member, what is your name? Well, now that you now have the microphone, kindly proceed. It is because you are seated there. You are third from that place anyway. However, who is this?

Tonui! 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.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to support this Motion by Hon. Wambugu. I believe the Motion is timely because it is dealing with a very critical area. Before I continue with that comment, kindly allow me to pass my sympathies to the people living in the Mau. We are in the National Assembly where we deal with national issues affecting our people. I thought I should send them my sympathies because they are approaching the deadline that was given, which I think should be on Thursday, before they are evicted from the land for which they possess title deeds. It is very unfortunate that they are being evicted when they own the land. When we look for land to purchase, we always inquire if it has a title deed. Once you are told it does, you have no otherwise, but to be interested to buy it. It is so unfortunate that their title deeds have been considered worthless. They are like pieces of paper even though they were issued from Government offices. It is also quite unfortunate that there is a lot of discrimination. If we talk of people owning land in forest areas, then there are many. It would be very good for the Government not to discriminate against the poor. The Government ought to have touched those who have big chunks of land in the Mau Forest like Finlay and Unilever. All of them are on the larger part of the Mau Forest. There is also Kiptagich Farm, which is associated with the former first family. I understand that even in the Aberdares Forest, the current first family has tree plantations. Nobody is talking about those cases. It is only the land owned by the poor which is mentioned and associated with lack of rainfall.

Hon. Tonui, if you could relate what you are saying, for example, to the transitional issues, probably, it could be relevant. However, what you have just done is to completely get off the track. I understand that is a very emotive issue as far as you are concerned, but we must also follow the rules. It must be fairly relevant. Indeed, it is relevant only that you are refusing to connect it. However, proceed. I hear what you have said.

Thank you. I am guided. Of course, we know the people who are living in these areas. We also have children and they need to transition 100 per cent from secondary schools to tertiary institutions. That cannot happen when we have the Government harassing them. It is the same Government which we truly supported 100 per cent. We misguided the same people who are being evicted that we were about to elect angels to office. It is unfortunate that the same people have retreated. What we see is the face of the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Forestry and regional commissioners who are simply appointees of “UhuRuto”, which we used to sing loudly in public rallies. However, they are the people who control power. We should appeal to them to ensure that the people are allowed to enjoy their parcels of land, for which they have title deeds. At least, they should be relocated somewhere. I do not understand when we are told that tea estates are forests and do not affect the environment, but tea plantations planted by the people in the same area do not assist as a form of forest cover. It is quite absurd. It is the height of hypocrisy which we have as the Jubilee Government. It is so unfortunate when we continue to harass our people and have their children not get quality education. Their future is compromised by the actions of the people in power whom I consider real hypocrites. They own pieces of land in forests and they never comment on it, but they only concentrate on parcels of land owned by the poor. This is very unfair. When we get heavy rains like the ones we are currently having, we need to associate the same with the Mau Forest. We have protected the Mau Forest. People in that area have protected 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.

the forest and that is why it is raining heavily in this republic. However, when we have drought in Mandera, we shout that it is because of the Mau Forest. I believe that is double standards.

I am trying to refer to this particular Motion to refresh myself. I can see it is on policy measures to ensure 100 per cent transition from secondary schools to tertiary education. So, Hon. Tonui, let us go there. You know you are an educationist yourself. I can assure you I know it is not that you did not understand this. It is where your emotions are. Proceed.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, you know I was a slow leaner even in school. I learn things slowly. So, I thank you for your guidance.

Well, having known you even from your schooling days, I know that is absolutely not true. So, proceed. I know how sharp you are.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Let me appreciate the Government for what it is doing to ensure that we have 100 per cent transition, especially by creating the many technical institutions in many of our constituencies. I believe that is a positive direction. We are creating the right skills. We have institutions which can train our people to be self-reliant in such a way that we can start exporting labour. That can only be achieved if we can get 100 per cent transition from primary and secondary school to tertiary institutions namely, the Technical Vocational Education and Training Institutions (TVET), other middle-level colleges and universities, where they can get skills. We need to guide our children on the kind of courses they need to do once they transit at 100 per cent.

I attended a graduation ceremony at one of the universities. When graduates from the School of Business were called upon to stand up, I realised they were almost two-thirds of all the graduating students at that ceremony. You then wonder, if everyone has a degree in business, where will they go? Relevant courses need to be taught in our universities. We must ensure that when our children transit through the 100 per cent transition principle, they do not get wasted. They need to have a chance to do courses that can enable them to create employment for themselves. We need to re-look at the courses we are offering at the tertiary level. If we say that everyone will be taking hospitality, tourism and such courses, are there job opportunities in those sectors? We need to evaluate the kind of courses our tertiary institutions are offering, so that we do not simply have our children transit from primary and secondary school to tertiary institutions without ensuring that they get the right skills to access jobs after college. We are simply wasting most of them. I know, for example, in our universities, the prime courses are medicine-related. We also have engineering, law and education. However, when you train a child in criminology, they will not get jobs. Currently, computer science skills are flooded all over.

Sorry, your time is over. I give the Floor to Hon. Mogaka Kemosi.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to the Motion. In Kenya, technical courses are offered in tertiary institutions. Countries such as Japan and China are moving forward in technology not because students who transit from high school join universities for degrees, but they join tertiary institutions and do vocational courses where they get knowledge in terms of technical courses. This is why a country like Japan is leading in automotive sector. In Kenya, the same can work, but the only problem is our culture that if you do not have a degree, you will not succeed in life. There are jobs in the vocational sector which are totally unexploited.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am very sure that if you walked around your village as well as my village, it will take you three days to get a plumber. If you get that plumber, he could be 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.

occupied in other jobs. It is high time we moved towards vocational training where we can get more people in such expertise. I also commend the Government of Kenya for coming up with the proposal that every constituency in Kenya should have a vocational training college. I am quite aware that some constituencies have already finished constructing the said vocational colleges and some have been equipped. I inquired at the Ministry of Education, through the Department of Vocational Training, and I was informed that for the remaining colleges in the various constituencies that have not been funded, the Ministry will expedite the funding, so that the colleges can also be equipped and start to operate. In my constituency of West Mugirango, a technical training is underway. I believe that in due course, the Ministry can raise the funds so that we can complete the said college.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, I want to ask my colleagues to intervene, so that as we proceed, we are also seen to be supporting the policy on 100 per cent transition from primary and secondary school to tertiary institutions. Let us spare some money from the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) in terms of bursaries, so that we can sponsor students who have completed secondary education to join tertiary institutions. With those few remarks, I support the Motion.

Let us hear Hon. Maanzo Gitonga. You pressed the intervention slot. Proceed from there.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me an opportunity to contribute on this important Motion. Policy informs the making of law. Our Constitution, in Article 55, is clear that this matter of training young people is mandatory. Therefore, at some point, we should graduate this Motion into law, so that we have equilibrium to ensure that those who do not make it to university, and who may be endowed with talent in technology, can access training and become useful in many aspects of life. One of the challenges is that we are bringing in a lot of manufactured goods from countries like Malaysia. For instance, we import furniture, which we can make locally, partly because we do not have trained technicians who are sufficiently refined to make high quality furniture items although we have a number of them. If you look at displays at carpentry workshops across the country, more so at the Prisons Industries, you will realise that talent in Kenya is enormous. If we train more people and change the mindset amongst our youths regarding education - that not everybody needs to go through university education in preparation for a white-collar job - many Kenyans will acquire technological skills, especially where we have to use skills such as masonry, construction, wood work and pottery. There is much which can be done when people are trained. Even making statutes needs thorough training, but not many young Kenyans know that it is a well-paying job. Painting and fine art are equally well-paying. These are areas where people can receive training and become self-employed. This will also encourage formation of companies which can go into manufacturing since the Government is very keen on this. Our thinking has been shaped differently and I think through this Motion, we will change the way Kenyans think. My good friend, Hon. Munene, was my classmate in university. He can work together with other lawyers to come up with an amendment to the current Education Act, so that this matter is made a by-law and compulsory as required by the Constitution. The word used is ‘shall’, which means it should be mandatory. Australia was built by people who had skills in construction and many other areas before they got lawyers and other professionals. The first people to go to Australia were jail birds of the British Government who had acquired some skills. When they landed in Australia, it was very easy for them to build their country. I believe if that happened in Australia, it can also happen in 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.

Kenya if we concentrate on these courses. You will realise that training is devolved and most technical institutes are under the county governments. I hope we can make a policy so that the national Government is able to work with counties. We need to ensure that each county has a minimum number of training institutes specialising in a particular area even if it is weaving. The

should be for the world market. There are areas in Kenya where the people are talented in pottery and through training, this can be refined. I support this great initiative which will encourage our youths to diversify into other areas to earn a living. This will increase the par capital of this country through taxes since these businesses will be recognised and work will be seen. We should also look for international markets, so that our products can be sold out there. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Let us have the Member for Marsabit, Hon. Adan Sheikh. Do you want to speak to this one?

Yes, I do.

Proceed.

(Marsabit CWR, JP: Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I stand to support this Motion since education is very important for our children. Many children drop out of school due to lack of fees. If this Motion is passed, it will give children from poor backgrounds a chance to access education. We should also think about the pastoralists’ children. The pastoralist communities practice a nomadic lifestyle of moving with their livestock from one place to another. They do not understand the importance of education and their children are very unlucky since they are uneducated. If our Government puts this policy in place, it will help these children to improve their livelihoods. I support this Motion. Thank you.

Let us have Hon. Murugara Gitonga.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me a chance to add my voice to this very important Motion. First and foremost, let me congratulate the Member for Kirinyaga Central, Hon. Munene Wambugu, for bringing such a timely Motion. I think this is an opportune moment for me to wish all the candidates of Tharaka and Kirinyaga Central constituencies, Tharaka Nithi County and the whole of Kenya the very best in their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations (KCSE). We are discussing a very important Motion on 100 per cent transition from secondary school to tertiary institutions and universities. We started very well with 100 per cent transition from primary school to secondary school and this is doing very well. We know for sure this is a very big burden for the country, the leadership and ourselves. But we have seen the fruits especially last year when there was 98 and 99 percent, and in some areas, 100 per cent transition from primary school to secondary school. It goes without gainsaying that in Kenya we must emphasis the importance of education especially in marginalised areas such as my constituency of Tharaka. I must, therefore, speak for them and when such a Motion comes to Parliament, we should pass it. We should support Hon. Munene Wambugu. After passing this Motion, we should come up with a Bill to actualise our thoughts into law. We must also join hands with Hon. Wambugu such that if we do not make a Bill, we create an appropriate amendment to the Education Act, so that 100 per cent transition from secondary school to tertiary institutions and universities is captured in the law. We cannot have quality education unless we improve the facilities available in our schools. While we can emphasise on 100 per cent transition from primary and school to tertiary 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.

institutions and universities, we may be talking about mass education. But we have to lay emphasis on quality education. This is the reason the Government must allocate enough resources to take care of infrastructure in terms of school equipment, learning schemes, books, desks, laptops and other learning facilities. Our county governments must also emphasise on Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) by building appropriate classrooms, furnishing them and ensuring children in nursery schools have sufficient learning materials. We also have another facility emphasised by the Government through the Ministry of Energy that all schools must have electricity for purposes of learning. I regret because in my constituency, we can only boast of 9.5 per cent connectivity to the electricity grid with almost 90 per cent of the schools lacking electricity. I have been following this up with the Ministry of Energy to know exactly what crime the people of Tharaka committed, so they can be treated with such inequities with regards to distribution of electricity. I have not received any fair response to my questions and enquiries, but I am assured that there will be an affirmative action which will ensure that all primary and secondary schools, universities and tertiary institutions are connected to electricity for purposes of learning. The Government must also allocate sufficient revenue to schools, so that we can realise the goals we are debating this morning. The Big Four Agenda of the Government is good enough since it focuses on food, infrastructure, housing and health, but we must remind the Government that is not just infrastructure and housing that are important. We need to hear more about food, health and introduce a fifth agenda which is quality education for our pupils, students and other learners. We know that TVETs are important. Our children acquire skills that are needed to get employment. The youth should have marketable skills for self-employment and self-reliance because formal jobs are not available and what is available is highly competitive. Therefore, we are not able to help the young people who are out to market themselves as qualified people. This is why we are saying that we should have a policy in place to ensure 100 per cent transition from secondary school to tertiary institutions and universities. When we talk about tertiary institutions, let us give what is useful to our youths. Enrolling a child in a TVET to study sociology or anthropology is not training the child in the right direction. However, when we enroll them to learn life skills like hair dressers, cooking, welding and engineering, it is important for their lives. Some courses that are being offered cast some doubt as to whether we are preparing our children for life skills. It is also important to talk about disability. When we transit children from primary school to secondary school and from secondary school to tertiary institutions and university, we should give emphasis to youth living with disabilities. We have schools being opened across the constituencies to take care of the disabled. They must also be trained, so that they can learn skills and earn their lives without depending on others. These guys are not disabled. They just have a little bit less than us who think we are ordinary. Therefore, as we move to the 100 per cent transition from secondary to tertiary institutions, let us remember persons living with disabilities. As I conclude, let me say that where the Government makes a pledge to assist schools especially in rural Kenya and money is budgeted, that budget should be realised. The Kamu Tuando Primary School in my constituency, which is not in a good state, has been allocated Kshs10 million by the Ministry of Education for development purposes like infrastructure. For the last two years, I have been chasing this money, so that the school can be developed like other schools, but I have not succeeded. I hope the Ministry can hear me and act on this. 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.

With that, I support this important Motion. Let us develop it into a Bill, so that we can actualise our thoughts in this House. I support.

I hope that is not the one that you were attending to sometimes ago bare feet.

It is the one.

Let us have Hon. Masara.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this particular Motion brought by Hon. Wambugu. It is very important for every person who has attained a KCSE certificate to get placed somewhere. If he or she misses the opportunity to join university, the TTI should be in place to accommodate them. Through this, we are going to reduce the rate of crime in this country by giving young people the opportunity to contribute to the economy of this country. My only concern is that this country needs to take issues seriously. Currently, 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school is facing a lot of challenges. Many schools admitted many students, but the Government is giving very little in terms of infrastructure fund which at times comes very late. For example, in my constituency, there is a school, which was a single stream before the policy of 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school was introduced called Nyagumbo Girls’ Secondary School. After the policy was implemented, the school has three streams. For the last two years, the school has been given one classroom by the Ministry of Education. Therefore, I encourage the Members of this House to do our legislative work by checking on the Executive concerning the policies that are in place. Coming back to the actual Motion, implementing the policy of 100 per cent transition from secondary school to tertiary institutions will enable the current TTIs to get students. These students, at the end of their time in TTIs, will contribute to the development of our economy. Therefore, after passing this Motion, we must look for funds to equip the TTIs and vocational training colleges, so that by the time the students graduate, they are well equipped to join the job market. We also need to create more job creators than job seekers. By taking people to tertiary colleges, I believe many of them will create enough jobs for others unlike the current situation where every youth is struggling to be employed in offices, which are also limited. In my constituency, there is a very old vocational training college called Kibabii Polytechnic, which is under-equipped. The land is very small. There are no teachers. Those who graduate from this polytechnic may not fit well into the job market. In consultation with the Senate, we need come up with a policy that all county governments should invest heavily in terms of equipment and personnel in polytechnics, so that we can equip our young people and prepare them for the future. My constituency is one of those that are going to benefit from TTI at a place called Piny Oyie. I believe with such a policy, many people from around that place, in places like Kiribe, Manyera, Kitabai, Machicha, Bondo and the entire Suna West, will get opportunity to be trained in the institution. Having said that, as a country, we need to start investing locally by involving those who have money, experience or such business which can accommodate the youth. They should be given opportunity to be in management boards and add value through their experiences in the particular area of tertiary colleges. I have realised with a lot of concern that some of the people who are appointed to these institutions do not have the interest of the community at heart. They are just being given the opportunity to be there because they are educated. We need to look keenly. If we appoint people who are already in such businesses or kind of colleges, they will 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.

add a lot of value to our training institutions. At the end of the day, we will have a robust economy through job creation from graduates from tertiary colleges. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this Motion.

Next is Hon. Captain Obo Mohamed.

Asante, Mhe. Naibu Spika kwa kunipatia nafasi hii nami nichangie Hoja hii. Mwanzo, ningependa kumshukuru Mhe. John Wambugu kwa kuleta Hoja hii muhimu nasi tuichangie. Tukitunga sheria ya kuwafanya asilimia 100 ya wanafunzi wanaotoka shule za upili kwenda vyuo, itakuwa jambo la muhimu sana na itakuwa msaada kwa Wakenya wote. Tunajua changamoto nyingi tunazozipata na vijana wanaharibikia hapo katikati. Kenya kuna nafasi nyingi za kazi ambazo vijana wanaweza kujishughulisha nazo. Nafasi na kazi ziko nyingi na husababisha Serikali kuchukua watu kutoka nchi zingine. Vijana wetu wakipelekwa katika vyuo hivyo kujifunza taaluma mbali mbali, ili wapate ajira na kuzongesha Kenya mbele. Vijana wako wengi katika nchi hii. Hata hivyo haitoshelezwi kamwe.

wanajaribu kupeleka watoto katika National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) lakini kuna wengi wa kupelekwa ambao wako kule mashinani. Twajua hatari iliyoko kule Lamu. Vijana wengi wakimaliza shule za upili na wakose ile hamu au wavunjike moyo, wanaingilia matatizo mbali mbali ambayo yanajulikana. Inaleta utovu wa usalama katika nchi yetu ya Kenya tunayoipenda. Kwa mfano, inajulikana kwamba kule Lamu, vijana wengi wameingia katika mihadarati. Hatua hii ikichukuliwa, itapunguza pakubwa vijana kushiriki mihadarati kwa sababu hawana kazi ya kufanya. Tunapenda mambo kama haya lakini inakuwa ngumu kuyatekeleza kule Lamu. Wanafunzi walio katika shule za upili wanavuka kuenda kwenye vyuo vikuu. Lakini hata ile Hoja tuliyoipitisha ya watoto wa shule za msingi kwenda katika shule za upili bado hatujaweza kuitekeleza. Katika Lamu kuna Wadi ya Basuba ambapo mpaka sasa, kuna shule zimefungwa zaidi ya miaka mitano. Tungependa kwenda katika mpango huu mwingine. Nimeuliza swali ambalo ikifika wakati wa kujibiwa, linapelekwa katika kamati nyingine. Ni haki ya wale watoto kupata elimu. Sisi hatuombi. Ni haki yetu kwa watoto kule Lamu kusoma. Lamu ni Kenya. Wana haki kama watoto wa Kaunti zingine. Makala ya 53(1) (a) katika Katiba - ukiniruhusu nisome kwa Kiingereza, - inasema: “Every child has a right…

It is against the Standing Orders - at least, until this afternoon if you pass the Swahili Standing Orders. You must continue in the same language which you started contributing in.

Bwana Naibu wa Spika, nimetafuta Katiba ya Kiswahili lakini nimekosa. Katiba ambayo nimepata ni ya Kiingereza.

Tafuta Katiba kwa simu yako.

Nimegoogle nikashindwa. Haikuja.

I will not even use Standing Order No.1 because it is expressly provided for. Try. Tafsiri . Kule unaposimamia ndipo Kiswahili kilianza . Tafsiri.

Ni kweli, Bwana Naibu wa Spika. Hata baba alisema Kiswahili kilianza Pate. Akatoa historia yote mpaka kikakufa huko Congo. Lakini kilipata ugonjwa hapa Nairobi. Makala ya 53 (b) ya Katiba inasema ni haki ya kila mtoto kupata elimu ya bure. Makala ya 55 (a) inasema kuwa Serikali ina jukumu la kuhakikisha vijana wapate elimu na ujuzi. Basuba 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.

Ward haijakuwa na shule ya chekechea, ya msingi au ya sekondari kwa miaka mitano. Huu ni ukweli.

Order, Hon. Sankok. Si shule ya kuchekea . Ni shule ya

. You must be able to understand. I know you have a problem with Kiswahili, but

. Proceed.

Asante, Bwana Naibu wa Spika. Mheshimiwa Sankok, hivi karibuni utapata Standing Orders za Kiswahili ambazo zitakusaidia. Tulikuwa pamoja katika Kamati kwa hivyo utasaidika hivi karibuni. Itabidi usome Kiswahili zaidi na Kiswahili kitukuzwe. Nimeng’ang’ana na kuuliza maswali lakini hatujapata majibu mpaka leo. Hii itatusaidia sana. Hiyo asilimia ya wanafunzi wanaotoka shule za msingi na kujiunga na shule za upili bado haijatimia. Bado sisi kule Lamu tunavutwa nyuma. Naomba Serikali na wahusika waangalie Lamu kwa sababu sisi pia ni Wakenya. Sera nzuri zinawekwa lakini tutakuwa watu wa mwisho kufikiwa nazo. Kama vile Serikali inajitolea pakitokea shida katika shule hapa Nairobi, nao waje kule Lamu waone zile shida tunazopata; zaidi katika upande wa elimu. Ni haki ya wale wanafunzi kupata elimu. Ni jukumu la Serikali kuhakikisha kuna usalama. Naunga mkono Hoja hii. Itakuwa jambo la maana sana tukiifanya iwe sheria. Itatupatia ajira na vijana watapungua katika uhalifu.

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion in Order No.12 on the Policy Measures to Ensure 100 Per Cent Transition from Secondary Education to Tertiary Education. I support the Motion by Hon. John Wambugu. It is timely and quite critical especially at a time when we are looking at middle income or developed status as a country. This Motion seeks to develop policies. The policies should look at how we can fund and equip technical and vocational training institutions. We need to equip the institutions that have been developed. We need to also develop others and make sure that the skills that are imparted after secondary school are useful to our community and can foster development; especially with the focus on one of the Big Four Agenda, which is manufacturing. We need these skills. This Motion will make a difference. The policy should also focus on school fees-financing. Most of the children who qualify to go to the post-secondary school institutions are still unable to access education. They are unable to access it because most of them can’t afford school fees. Again, these institutions are very far from their places of residence. The policy should provide for free access to education. It means the Government should pay the fees and provide adequate financing to ensure that all the children who qualify proceed to acquire the skills. Hon. Deputy Speaker, when this policy is developed, it should take care of apprenticeship, for example...

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker.

Hon. Sankok, what is out of order? Just hold on Hon. Kaunya.

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise on a point of order because we do not have the requisite quorum to transact any business in this House.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker.

Hon. Kaunya, just hold on. Hon. Sankok is quite in order. We do not seem to have the requisite quorum. Hold on, Hon. Kaunya. I direct that the Quorum Bell be rung for 10 minutes.

Where are the Whips? I cannot see any of them in the House. We need to see their work.

Hon. Members, we have quorum now. I hope that Hon. Sankok is satisfied. Hon. Kaunya, you were on the Floor. Proceed.

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. After that short interruption by Hon. Sankok, I will continue. I was saying that this Policy should address the equipping of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions. It should address the equipping of the newly built TVETs. I will give the example of my constituency where we have Chamasiri TVET which is complete with students who are eager to learn, but it is unequipped. I am aware that there is now an existing Policy to have TVETs in all the constituencies. It will be important if the policy in this Motion can address the equipping of the youth polytechnics which are under the counties. They should be well equipped so that they give skills to the lower levels, especially the artisan level.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the policy should also take care of internships and apprenticeships. Developed countries have made it a must for private companies and the government to provide apprenticeship opportunities to all students who go through formal education. The students are attached to companies and government departments to learn useful life skills to enable them work. Through this Motion, we should formulate a policy that makes it mandatory for apprenticeships and internships. As Members are aware, in this financial year, Parliament has provided funds to the Public Service Commission to hire 3,000 interns. The interns have actually been hired. These are graduates who have gone through post-secondary school education. For the first time, we will have these graduates learning skills, tenets and ethics of the Public Service. It is quite important, if we are to develop as a country, for the Public Service to be functional and efficient. We can only do that if we transform educated graduates into skilled people who understand work ethics. Internship programmes should be encouraged and we should have this policy as a law providing that all those who finish secondary schools and go to tertiary and other institutions of higher learning should go through internship and apprenticeship.

Another area that this policy should look into is attitude or mindset education. This policy should deliberately develop systems to ensure that our youth regard blue collar and white collar jobs equally so that they do not aspire to get white collar jobs only, but start valuing skills they get at the lower level. For example, plumbing and electrical skills are in great shortage. Even in 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.

farming, we need to have a deliberate policy to ensure that we educate and sensitise the youth and give them confidence that working in other types of jobs pays in the same way. In developed countries, the percentage of students who transit to university is usually less than 15 per cent. The majority crave to go for practical skills which enable them to self-employ or work in industries. So, if this country is to develop, we need to change the attitude of our youth by spending more on mindset education. We need to change the mind-set of our youths so that they can look at lower jobs as more important than even the white collar jobs that graduates seek.

If we are to develop as a country and actualise the Big Four Agenda, especially that on manufacturing, we need 100 per cent transition from secondary schools to post-secondary school education.

With those remarks, I support the Motion.

Hon. Tum, you have the Floor.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I stand to support the Motion. There is need for measures to be put in place to ensure 100per cent transition from primary to secondary schools and to tertiary institutions. Let me convey my prayers to the people of Mau, who do not have shelter yet they have children sitting for national examinations. They are staying in an unstable environment. My prayers go to the children who started their examination this week and those who have done their practical examinations. We are praying for them to excel like other children in stable homes. It beats logic when people are told to go to where they came from when Kenya is for all of us and when anybody can live anywhere. They have title deeds. I take this opportunity, too, to wish students of Nandi County and the rest of Kenya success in their primary and secondary examinations. If measures for transition to secondary and tertiary institutions are put in place, we will have adequate personnel in our institutions and the unemployment rate will reduce, leading to a reduction of poverty and lawlessness. We need to support this Motion so that we can have adequate personnel. We know the Jubilee Government has the Big Four Agenda: manufacturing, food security, housing and universal healthcare. So, if we develop technical institutions in the country, our children will access jobs. We need more plumbers, electricians and masons so that the housing agenda, through which the Government intends to construct 500,000 houses, can be accomplished. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is a lot of hopelessness amongst our youths because of unemployment. They engage in drug abuse and gender violence because they do not think about tomorrow, and they have nothing to lose. So, if we take them to vocational training institutions, they will be self-employed and take care of their children. I have personally taken 150 youths to Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions and 30 to the National Industrial Training Authority (NITAs), Nairobi. I have used about Kshs8 million of the meagre resources we are given as County Women Representatives, but we have been failed on the grounds. Food security will not be realised when we cannot manufacture. We need plumbers in our food processing factories. We do not need to see our people crying every day without food. Let them be self-employed because the Government cannot employ everyone. We do not need to see students who have completed higher education staying at home. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, every weekend, Members of Parliament are called on school fees matters because those who are newly married have no means of raising school fees 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.

for their children. So, if we support this Motion, our stress levels will reduce because the Government will take part of the roles that we play as Members of Parliament. With those remarks, I support the Motion 100 per cent.

Hon. Members, the time allocated for this Motion has elapsed. It is now time for the Mover to reply. The Mover, as you reply, you have opportunity to donate some time to Members who feel that they need to say something.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I want to donate a minute each to Hon. Murwithania, Hon. Mose and Hon. Edith Nyenze. Please understand. I wish we could extend time.

We will start with the Member for Buuri.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, and Hon. Wambugu. This Motion has come at the right time when Kenya is lacking adequate human resource in many sectors particularly those that require technical skills. This is the greatest opportunity that we have through this Motion to create amendment in the Education Act. My support for this is that we quickly move and ensure that we have amendment in the Education Act so that we entrench it in Government as a policy. Thank you.

Hon. Mose, you have the Floor.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for an opportunity to also add my voice to this very important Motion. First and foremost I want to congratulate my colleague, Hon. Munene, for bringing up a Motion that has a direct bearing on our children. To start with, let me wish the children of Kitutu Masaba who are undertaking their exams and the children of this country success in their exams. The exams that are being undertaken have a direct bearing to the Motion that is before this House. The 100 per cent transition from secondary to tertiary institutions and to the university is a critical idea. It is a complete departure from what we used to have in the past where we have trained very many graduates. We have trained managers and failed to train the workers. From the various tertiary institutions we have, we are lacking the key persons who undertake various responsibilities. We are lacking plumbers…

Hon. Edith Nyenze, you have the Floor.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Mover of the Motion, Hon. John Wambugu, and thank him for giving me this opportunity. I take this opportunity to wish all the students success in their exams. This Motion is very relevant because we have 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school. This one is an onward movement from secondary to tertiary education. This Motion addresses joblessness which is one of the major problems we have in our country. There are so many youth who are not employed yet we lack people who can do such duties as plumbing, masonry and electricians. You go round looking for these people to offer jobs but you cannot find them. When we get this 100 per cent transition to tertiary education, it will better chances of employment and even encourage self-employment. These 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.

people will now have increased job knowledge, job satisfaction and tackle the issue of joblessness.

Hon. Edith, you only had a minute or two. Hon. Wambugu, complete it.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Before I say much, let me take this opportunity to wish the KCPE and KCSE candidates especially from Kirinyaga Central all the best. I want to start by profusely thanking all the Members from the deepest point of my heart for their contribution which has enriched this Motion. Through their contribution, I have also learnt a lot on what we need to do especially those who urged me to consider moving this Motion to a Bill or to amend the existing Education Act so that we can anchor the into law such that going forward, it will not be an issue of urging the Government to implement this policy but a requirement. This House needs to look at Article 55 of the Constitution. That Article guarantees or requires the Government to ensure that all youth access quality education and skills. It is a constitutional requirement. It is one which inspired me to come with this Motion. Time has come when we have to give our youth access to education which is not just education but quality education. The impact of this Motion, if it were to be passed – I believe it will be passed because all the Members who spoke were all in support. In fact, there is no Member who opposed this Motion. All of them spoke in support. If it were to be implemented; I will urge the Committee on Implementation to follow up. This will have far reaching impact which will be felt in many years to come. What has been happening is that, once our Form Four candidates get out, which is still a tender age of 17, 18 or19 years, apart from those who qualify to go to universities and others whose parents are endowed, are able to take them to colleges. Most of them, almost 60 per cent, are left hanging. If this Motion was to be implemented to the letter, it will mean that every candidate who do Form Four exams, whether he qualifies to university or not, will automatically get a letter to join a college of their choice so long as they have met the qualification required in that college or for that course. Even the people with grades “C”, “D” and “E” do not mean that they cannot be trained to be good carpenters, plumbers or electricians. We will be able to follow all our candidates after Form Four. There is an issue of budget constraints or the money required to implement this Motion. It is not a lot. From nursey all the way to Form Four, the Government has already committed and used too much money on these students. So, asking for three years more to make this person acquire skills which can help him or her to earn a living will not be asking too much. In any event, even when we talk about Vision 2030 or even about the Big Four, without proper education and proper skills, our country will not achieve that. If you look around the world, for example, Germany, Australia or USA, there is no country which develops without investing in education and skills of its people. In fact, the biggest resource a country can have is its human resource. With a proper well educated population, you have a chance to become a First Class country without having to rely on minerals or other things. The other beauty is that, with good skills, you open up your scope. You do not need to look for a job in Kenya. You can even become a very good mechanic and go to work in America or elsewhere. That means we will be creating a workforce which can work, not just within our boundaries, but even outside. That way, they will earn a living and keep on enjoying Diaspora remittance to the country. 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.

If we pass this Motion, the other issues will follow automatically. There is a Member who asked whether we have enough teachers to train these students once they go from Form Four to tertiary education. If we implement this Motion and go ahead and make it a Bill and pass it to a law, it means the Government will be required to employ teachers. It is this Parliament which should be required to allocate resources. I believe education is where we need to take our resources to and we can afford. I will like to end by saying that this is a Motion which is going to benefit the whole country, our future and our children, if it is implemented to the latter. I sincerely thank the House and the Hon. Members for supporting this Motion en masse. With those few remarks, I beg to reply. Thank you.

Very well. I direct that the next necessary steps be undertaken when the matter will be set down again, on the Order Paper, for consideration.

Next Order!

Thank you Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for the opportunity to move this Motion. I beg to move: THAT, aware that farmers in Kenya are least organised into Associations, following the collapse of the Agricultural Cooperatives; further aware that, the Crops Act, 2013 provides for registration of farmers so as to establish who they are and what they produce; noting that Government’s efforts to establish farmers’ organisations have ended up delivering short-lived and unsustainable initiative- based groups which fizzle out soon after their formation; further noting that the best way to organise farmers is through their organisations; appreciating that the best suited organisation to undertake farmers’ registration is the Kenya National Farmers’ Federation which has both experience and capacity; further noting that through organised farmers, farming will be more beneficial in terms of volumes, lowered cost of production and improving organised raw material supply to industry; realising that organising farmers into Agri-business entities is a costly undertaking which calls for Government support, and acknowledging that through organised production systems, the country will achieve the Big 4 Agenda faster and also create more and better jobs in the Agricultural Value Chains; this House urges the Government to facilitate and support the Kenya National Farmers’ Federation to mobilise and organise the registration of farmers into preferred entities and manage national farmers’ database for use in engagements and sustainable management of the various Agricultural Product Value Chains. I come from the background where we have the Crops Act, 2013 which has provisions that I wish to highlight. The first one is the objective and purpose of this Act, Section 3 that basically presupposes that the Act is supposed to accelerate the growth and development of agriculture in general and 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.

enhance productivity and incomes of the farmers and rural population; to improve investment on climate and efficiency of agri-business development, agricultural crops and exports that will augment the foreign exchange earnings of the country. This is done through promotion of the production, processing, marketing and distribution of crops in arable areas of this country. This is covered in Section 8 on promotion of scheduled crops. There is also Section 14 which is on freedom to register, especially sub-section (e), and Section 15 which has to do with the registration of growers’ association, especially Section 15(c) and Section 5(d). Finally, there is registration of dealers which is Section 16. Any agricultural transformation agenda demands that the actors are known and organised. This is the very elaborate agricultural cooperative movement. I may wish to cite the coffee and tea cooperatives, which were very laudable co-operatives in this country. It was not done easily. It involved identification, listing and registration of people, especially the farmers who were involved in those cooperatives and who performed their duties where their products were finally being marketed by the cooperatives. The extent to which farmers are known and registered determines the strength of the resultant entity. The supplies’ management of tea, save for the hiccups we have in the tea industry today, is a laudable effort and a success story quoted all over the world. Organisations are about individuals. It is about the database of farmers. It is also the form and the context it takes. The Societies Act Cap 108 presupposes that entities can register as societies for ease of doing business, especially when their operational volumes and contributions are small. The societies are held together and sustained through knowledge and preservation of the right to associate as provided for in the Constitution under the Bill of Rights. Farmers’ registration is the basis of all forms of organisation in the agricultural sector since the individuals form entities and the entities from conglomerates. The Kenyan agricultural sector needs to transform. Efforts that have been put in the direction of transformation of the agricultural sector have not yielded a lot of effort. However, a lot of resources have already been used. The impact of those resources cannot be clearly seen though quite enormous. It is because there has been minimal effort in organising farmers. The focus on organising farmers has been little. If we invested a fraction of those resources, first of all to organise the famers, the resources used in infrastructure development and personnel development of the sector would have yielded a lot of benefits. Kenya would be a quoted African economy that has been moved through agricultural transformation. The missing link is, therefore, a proper and deliberate farmer organisation. A close scrutiny of the Kenyan agricultural reform agenda conceived under three strategies that I may wish to quote reveals much. One, the strategy for revitalising agriculture which was launched in 2004 covering up to 2014, presupposes that the poor performance of agriculture then would be looked into. It laid a lot of emphasis on the vision and the objective that ought to be pursued in order to reduce losses and come up with sustainable development. The agricultural sector development strategy 2010/2020 centred around investment in order to yield accelerated growth and poverty reduction. The strategy that is now in operation is the agricultural sector transformation and growth strategy which covers 2014 to 2029. It focuses a lot on agricultural growth and transformation from subsistence to agri-business. None of those strategies, save for the latest one, engaged farmers effectively. Farmers will be central pillars in the implementation of this strategy. The agricultural sector growth and transformation strategy presupposes piloting and clustering of farmers in thousands and employing targeted interventions. It also identifies the need for a large scale production approach, but it shies away from confronting the real problem 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.

we have in Kenya of land segmentation and increase in the population of farmers. Incidentally, we appear satisfied with that yet our farmers are small-scale. Therefore, they need to be organised because they are disadvantaged. The reforms in the Kenyan agricultural sector ought to borrow from reforms that have taken place in other countries. Reforms in other countries started many years ago. For example, there is the United Kingdom (UK) Agrarian Reform that took place in the 17th Century. It brought together small-scale farmers who were scattered just as we are today and formed a production method that still sustains their industrial development. In Finland, the same occurred in 1757 to 1848. In Italy, it happened from 1806 to 1861. The most recent to experience this is Brazil in Latin America where most of our agricultural stakeholders go to bench mark. It occurred 55 years after the agrarian revolution from 1985 to 1990. In Chile, the same occurred in 1973. In China, it happened recently. It is happening now, as we speak, in Vietnam. Hon. Speaker, the Kenyan key actors in the agricultural sector are privy to the fact that we have studied those systems with a lot of envy. A key component in the agrarian reform is the capture of the database of farmers, what they do, how they do it, and what needs to be done to inform the follow-up process. The database will include the name of the farmer, the locality, the enterprise origin of choice, the holding units, levels of education, demands for resources, input types and quantities, mechanisms of acquisition of the inputs, and the ecology. The information above shows the levels of integration into the agricultural sector provided in the value chain. We will need to wake up to the reality that farmers need to be organised for them to grow from small to big. Farming has also been promoted as a business for a long time in this country. However, that ends up as a statement, that is, farming should be business. We know businesses have input and output domains. We must be clear on how we need to transform our agriculture into business. Without capturing farmers’ data base, we will only plan to fail because we will not have planned properly with the data. Farming, being a long term process, needs to be well planned as a formidable business process. The African Union Agricultural Agenda speaks to this fact. The Nepal agricultural agenda is captured under what is called the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme commonly known as CADP. CADP remains an operational framework for the African countries to be able to interpret and apply, so that they develop agriculture effectively. This will help steer growth and development of their countries. CADP prescribes a set of indicators for growth and development of the agricultural sector of all the countries that will be signed to this process. I want to report that Kenya is a signatory Member of African Union (AU). So, it is signed up for CADP. The reporting mechanism is consultative and collaborative. Where farmers are not organised, their input is always mixed up in such a reporting mechanism. Kenya has considerably interpreted CADP through the transformation of the objectives of the agricultural development sector strategy which were made CADP-compliant in 2010. That was the mother of the agricultural sector development strategy. Through the framework of action in Maputo in 2003, which the African heads of States signed, including Kenya, the African heads of States committed themselves to support agriculture by up to 10 per cent of their national budget come the year 2008. That was five years later. That declaration was signed up by the heads of States and governments and they committed themselves to the African Agricultural Development agenda. If farmers were registered, they would have effectively lobbied to achieve this agenda in 2008. Because farmers are not organised in this country, they do not have a strong voice, therefore, they are not able to move their agenda effectively. The same initiative was formed into a more laudable and actionable 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.

framework 10 years later in Malabo as the Malabo Framework for Action. For your information, Kenya is a signatory to that too. Kenya is, therefore, yet to meet its obligations. It always excuses herself in the casting and interpretations. What I mean by this is that, the agricultural sector is lumped up with the other sectors in rural development. Infrastructural development is sometimes linked up with agriculture as part of the contribution. So, if the farmers were registered, organised and signed up, the pact would have been implemented. They would have lobbied and pushed for it. If, indeed, we had registered farmer’s organisation, it is not only the Government that would be in high alert, but ourselves too in terms of listening to farmers’ issues as it were. So, for agriculture to work in Kenya, we need an agrarian reform and not an agrarian revolution. Many efforts have been put in place and tried out in this country, but the options have not yielded the relevant results. We have initiatives like the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) which is trying to do something about the agrarian reform. However, it is lacking in terms of approach. It sounds like it is bent to deliver Pan African agricultural reform. It has fallen short of a few issues that I would wish to mention. A revolution is an all-resources, all-efforts and all-possibilities resolved. We need a revolution in the agricultural sector for us to cause the needed domains to change for the better. We need to change our farming systems, our approach to agriculture and the size of our lands. A revolution is, therefore, thorough, systematic, consultative and highly result-oriented. Looking at AGRA as an initiative to cause agrarian reform, it makes us worry because very little, if anything, goes to the direction of registration, aggregation or organisation of farmers. None of our counties has so far considerably prioritised agriculture in order to develop. While we know that the greater majority of the counties will depend on agriculture to grow, very few of them have prioritised agriculture. Apart from Mombasa and Nairobi counties which can get their income from other sources, all the other counties will need to improve their agriculture for them to grow. So, registration of farmers is the first step in realising green revolution in Kenya as it is in realising green revolution anywhere else in the world. Farmers are the soldiers in this particular war. Borrowing from the developed world, most countries grow from agriculture where farmers are registered, organised and tasked to grow and produce raw materials for their industries. Countries grew in terms of what was good for them. Organised production systems, also called v-zoning of the Arab world, determined the production zones based on their ability to produce. Industries are linked with the production systems so that they may be supplied with raw materials. If we have to realise the Big Four Agenda, we must be able to organise our raw materials and link them to these industries. Farmers in this country have lost confidence in government-driven formations. I want to cite the case of cooperatives. The cooperative movement collapsed because a cooperative officer could change the decision of a cooperative board or committee. That is the reason most farmers do not have confidence in the cooperative movement. Whether mature or otherwise, prepared or not, soon and very soon, Kenyan farmers will be on their own. They will be on their own because when you look at what is happening in the agricultural sector, most of the technocrats are retiring and the Government is not replacing them. Before we find farmers purely on their own, we need to have them organised so that they may be able to receive extension or consultancy services through organised systems. Unless we have small-holder farmers organised, they may not be able to buy extension services as much as they may also not be able to buy inputs. What they need is a supportive policy framework that will state the investment, which must be free of influence. This process must be farmer-owned, farmer-driven, farmer-managed 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.

and farmer-governed. That is why, therefore, it invites the need for a farmer organisation to spearhead this particular process. Farmers trust their own. They believe in themselves. They form and run their organisations. For that to happen, farmer registration must be domiciled in an umbrella body of farmers. An umbrella body of farmers is one where the general and multi-level organisations and the specialised commodity associations are anchored. Such formations exist and they have the structures we have described. The Kenya National Farmers Federation is one of them. This organisation is older than the country itself. It was formed in 1947 and registered in 1949. The organisation has changed overtime and is capable of managing the farmer registration and organisation process. Farmer registration and organisation is an expensive exercise. It cannot be done without Government support. For such a process to succeed, in view of its importance, our Government must spend resources. Such resources are worth a lot more than any other form of investment that our Government would come up with, because they unlock the potential for industrial development of this country through diversification and production of raw materials. Many industries mean better wealth creation for this country. Many industries mean better job creation and more jobs created. If there is anything we need in this country, it is jobs created. The agricultural sector, which supports this particular economy’s GDP at 34 per cent directly and 27 per cent indirectly, is capable of supporting this country to grow and develop. Classical examples have been there in this country. We have models that we can cite; they are available. Examples are the Mwea models and others. An organised agricultural system would deliver lots of benefits. I would wish to allude to some of these benefits. One of them will be raw materials supplied…

Hon. Members, the level of consultation is too high. Hon. Mbui, Member for Kathiani, and the Member for Machakos, the consultations are a bit loud. Allow Hon. (Dr.) Kanyuithia to finish moving his Motion.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I was getting a little bit attracted to the conversations. I was wondering whether they are discussing the agricultural sector. Thank you very much. Some of these benefits include raw material consolidation to supply to an organised industrial system. They include better investment environment through increased options and opportunities. They also include income to farmers themselves and other value chain actors, and more money to the commodity market itself. Other benefits include development of a better business environment, food and nutrition security, just to mention a few. Food and nutrition security is an outcome of an organised farmer system, especially the small-holder farmers as categorised.

Hon. Kanyuithia, I will allow you one minute. I know that when debate is flowing, sometimes you forget the time aspect. Your time has lapsed but I will allow you one minute to conclude moving.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I just want to conclude by suggesting how to organise the farmers. First of all, we should divide the countryside into farmer clusters and catchments. The catchments would form what are called producer business groups. The producer business groups would have similar product orientation and could cluster to form agribusiness clusters. These agribusiness clusters are the ones that 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.

would own what we are calling warehouses by use of the warehouse receipting law that we passed in this House recently. The warehouses would give farmers a steady income in terms of the value for their products and in terms of keeping their products, as it were. The warehouses would also be the sources of raw materials for the industries, if and when such industries are established. That way, we would have an agricultural transformation agenda that is realistic, and that is targeted at sustainability. With those remarks, and in the hope that I have communicated to my colleagues, I beg to move and call upon Hon. Shollei to second.

Hon. Shollei.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to appreciate the Mover of this Motion, Dr. John Mutunga, because this is an extremely important Motion. Most of this country’s GDP is based on agriculture. It is also important because 70 per cent of the food consumed in this country is produced by small-holder farmers. Therefore, the Motion and the request that farmers be registered are imperative. It is an economic imperative for this country. This country cannot transform or improve its yields in farming if we do not have registration of farmers. The country cannot plan well if it does not know how many farmers it has, what activities those farmers are involved in, how many persons are employed by those farmers, what other side activities—like production of biogas and so on— are being undertaken by these farmers. Therefore, registration would enable the country to have a more directed policy and more directed resources in the correct areas of promoting agriculture. It will further be the only way through which the pillar on food security, as one of the Big Four Agenda of His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, can be actualised. Without registration of farmers, it will be impossible for us to realise this agenda. A good example of the dangers of not registering farmers is that, recently, Kenya was hit by a shortage of maize and we needed to import that commodity. Because we have not registered our farmers, it is impossible for the Government to know how many farmers have grains in their farm warehouses. Forget what is in the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) stores or what is with the NCPB. Therefore, we always run into the danger of importing excess maize and flooding the market, and farmers eventually suffer. Farmer registration will allow the Ministry to plan better on the necessity or lack of necessity to import. It would also help the country to know how many warehouses we need to build. We have not built new warehouses since Independence yet our production has increased. It will also be able to help us direct our efforts better on issues like pest control. Last year, it was reported that Kenya lost Kshs3 billion worth of maize to army worms, who destroyed our crops. Yet we also hear that we spend only Kshs1 billion on fertilisers. This tells you that there is no data that is being used in making such decisions. Registration of farmers will also help us to have more directed research. There are many agricultural research institutions in Kenya, but if they do not know which farmers they are serving and what type of crops or activities the farmers are involved in, then their research is actually like walking blindly, as a country. With registration of farmers, we will also be able to boost productivity. Currently, as a representative of Uasin Gishu County, the average production of maize per acre in farms is 15 bags and yet, I know a farmer in Uasin Gishu called Kruger who produces an average of 45 bags per acre. Therefore, we are at less than 50 per cent optimum production in farming. If we knew the farmers registered, then we would know which one was not using adequate fertilisers or who needs help with soil analysis so that we can help them improve their farming practices. 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.

It will also help us in cases of marketing and promotion of certain crops so that if too many farmers are registered as producers of maize, then we can now call for diversification, with an understanding of what crop or farm produce we have a shortage of in Kenya. Therefore, the need to register farmers is imperative and it is shocking that we have not begun to undertake this after 55 years of Independence. As I second this Motion, I want to close by giving an example of a country like Malawi during the presidency of Mutharika – probably that has changed now –where they moved from a food deficient country to a food sufficient one only because they knew the number of farmers that they had. They had registered their farmers; they knew their number and even their subsidy. The fertilisers and seed subsidies were being delivered directly to farms and/or through the associations that the farmers had formed. In Kenya, they are currently being sold through commercial outlets which, in fact, have been used by cartels to only make money for themselves. With those few remarks, I second the Motion. Thank you.

Hon. Members, allow me to propose the Question.

( Question proposed)

Hon. Members, having listened to the Mover and the Seconder, you realise that Hon. Dr. Kanyuithia has brought to this House a very important Motion. It is amazing that this country which sustains itself on agriculture does not have proper data on the farmers who are supposed to be the bedrock of its economy. I think this will be a very important discussion. The first one to go at it will be the Member for Mumias East, Hon. Washiali.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Allow me to thank Dr. John Mutunga for bringing this Motion which is very important. Having looked at the Motion and the effects, I was actually going to suggest that Hon. Dr. John Mutunga should move very quickly and do a Bill. It is only from a Bill that the Government can start moving. Agriculture is one of the sectors that have been devolved. I think it is fully devolved, but there is still some confusion. Up to date, the Government cannot tell where it reaches and where the county government takes over. It is not very clear on the roles of the county governments when it comes to agriculture. I was also going to suggest that, in as much as we debate this, we need to also encourage county assemblies to come up with Bills because most of the agricultural business is done in the county governments. We will really wish that we encourage them to also develop a register for farmers. You cannot do much if you do not know the people you are dealing with. I am a Member of Parliament representing farmers, mainly sugarcane farmers, until the other day when Mumias started misbehaving. I also represent maize farmers and farmers of other crops. I am sure the Government must have had it very difficult. I wish this decision should have been made much earlier. How would you employ your extension officers when we do not know how many farmers those officers are going to deal with? That is why it has been very difficult even for extension officers to know the number of farmers they are dealing. They are used to a standard measure. You will find all agricultural officers are sent to all districts in the same manner. It will not be logical to employ agricultural officers in a district like Garissa or any arid area because there is no agriculture that is taking place there. There, they would be better placed with livestock officers as opposed to agricultural officers. Therefore, for one to employ extension 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.

officers, you must be able to tell the number of farmers you have, the kind of crops being developed and what you expect to get after they have done what they need to do. To eliminate quacks, we have had farmers’ organisations like the Kenya Sugar Board. You will find that even to identify who the directors representing farmers are, the farmers must be the ones to be involved in the election of directors. But you find directors who do not know much about farming and, sometimes, they do not even understand the crops they are representing. We have allowed quacks to present themselves as farmers and that is why they also elect quacks to represent farmers when they know nothing about the crops they are representing. The aspect of timely payments to farmers should only be by people who know what those farmers are going through. You remember when we had farmers supplying maize to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), you would find that one farmer was supplying thousands of tonnes. This is a farmer we did not know, but he was presenting himself as one. This was happening just because we have not registered those farmers. When you register farmers, you do it with the size of the land they are tilling. So, registration will eliminate practices where people just come and claim to be farmers and yet they are not. We have a big problem in the farming sector. Right now, we are importing eggs and milk from Uganda and all over. We are eating fish from China just because we cannot tell who can produce tilapia for us today. Central region is one of the places that we have fish. However, because we cannot follow what those farmers are doing, you find some people who pretend to be farmers selling fish here claiming to have got it from their farms when, in the actual sense, they have imported it from China.

It is only from this registration that we will tell how many of our citizens can produce. The current policy of the Jubilee Government has encouraged farmers to plant avocado and macadamia fruits. The other day, a number of farmers in my place showed interest in planting macadamia nuts. The question is: If they are not registered and they have no farmers’ organisation or a co-operative society, how will they market those macadamia nuts? This is because we do not consume much of it here and you cannot export it in bits. If we do not have such a body, we cannot tell how many of our Kenyans are engaged in macadamia nuts farming and so, we cannot help them access markets.

So, this is a very important Motion. This is where we have been going wrong as a country. I request my brother John Mutunga to move further and develop it into a Bill. We will support that Bill so that we can have an organised sector that will help Kenyans to move to the next step. I thank you Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker.

Very well-spoken Hon. Washiali. It is Dr. Mutunga and not Don Mutunga. Let us have Hon. Paul Mwirigi.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to support this Motion.

Farmers are key and the Government should focus on them since whatever we consume in this country is produced by them. The offices we hold are facilitated by the farmers. So, we should support this Motion so that farmers can be recognised. This is because when we will have that organisation, the Government will be in a good position of managing farmers and funding them.

Secondly, through that organisation, the Government will know how many farmers are in this country and the types of crops they produce. This will enable us to be a food sufficient country. We suffer due to our ignorance. We do not know what is being produced or where some 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.

of the crops can do well in this country, but through the organisations of farmers, the Government will map out those places and have the right crops planted there.

When farmers will be registered, even the marketing of their products will be simple and they will earn good money. Currently, in the importation of maize, you hear of people supplying many tonnes of maize and yet they do not have farms. Through this registration, we will help farmers earn good money and market their produce. The Government will shift its focus to the farmers because farmers will have a strong organisation where they can give their ideas on what they want the Government to do and the direction they want to take. If farmers have that organisation, this country will be transformed.

This will help the Government during budgeting to give the agriculture sector enough money. Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture is given very little money. Knowing that this is the backbone of the country, the Government should channel its effort to farmers.

This organisation will, for example, govern the miraa sector in my place, which is a foreign exchange earner for this country. It will help miraa farmers access new markets. So, it is a good Motion which Hon. (Dr.) Mutunga has brought to this House. It is a Motion which we must support because the constituencies which we represent in this House are mostly constituted by farmers. In my constituency, we grow miraa, tea, coffee, bananas, maize and keep livestock. This means that when this Motion will be developed into a Bill and passed, our constituents will benefit more and will be happy.

So, I beg my fellow Hon. Members to support the Motion. The Government ought to channel its efforts in funding this sector so that farmers can benefit. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker.

Hon. Lodepe.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I stand to join my fellow MPs in supporting this Motion. I want Hon. Members to know that, as we talk about farmers, we should also include livestock farmers from where I come from.

The aim of having those associations is to facilitate the integration of farm produce into our markets. Those associations will create markets for farm produce instead of it rotting in the farms or storage facilities and, therefore, benefitting the farmers. Secondly, they will improve the quality of life in the rural areas. The rural areas will develop and rural-urban migration will stop. They will ensure a balance of people in towns and rural areas. Therefore, one can decide to live in the rural areas since those associations will create jobs and provide services. So, there will be no need of going to towns to seek employment, services or buy goods like fertilisers because those facilities will be provided in the rural areas.

As we consider those associations, we must also think of the principles which will govern them. We have the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) which has completely failed us. So, this time, we need to get this right by ensuring we create principles to govern them. The first principle is decentralisation. The whole system should have representation from the grassroots level to the national level. The ADC has failed because decisions are made at the highest level in this country. This time, we need to decentralise those associations to the grassroots level so that decisions of farmers in the rural areas can be implemented at the national level.

The second principle is autonomy. Farmers should have freedom to choose their development goals, action plans and management of their resources without external interference. I want to agree with Hon. Washiali when he said that some board members who are appointed have no clue about farming. But, because of political connections and networks, they 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.

are appointed to those boards and, as a result, they fail to give direction. So, we should ensure that farmers associations are autonomous and run by people who have knowledge and experience in agriculture in terms of livestock farming and fisheries. So, when they make a decision, it will not affect the farmers.

Another principle we need to consider is professionalism. We need people like livestock farmers, foresters and fishermen included in decision-making. Before forming the associations, we all know that farmers of this country are discouraged because of not benefiting from their work. Therefore, we need to be encouraged and motivated to start those associations and renew their interests. They should be informed of the importance of those associations and their benefits. Last year, many farmers wasted their produce. Up to now, they are giving it to their livestock. That is why they need to be encouraged and motivated to renew their interest and form those associations.

The ministry concerned should take the audit of the farmers to know how many are in each sector. As Members have said, we need to know the number of farmers in this country. We can recall a scandal that happened last year about the Government buying maize from outside this country and failing to buy from the maize farmers in this country. There are people who play the role of supplying maize to the Government and yet they are not farmers, have never stepped into a farm or suffered. So, the ministry concerned should take an audit of all farmers and their farms, whether they are in Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Lodwar or wherever they are. They should get the farmers’ names, farm acreage and what they plant on their land. So, whenever guys import cheap maize into this country, they should be asked where their farms are, so that farmers can be protected.

Those associations should enable farmers to put their resources together for development. Through those associations, farmers will bring their resources together and get loans to develop themselves at a personal level. By the way, the President has rejected the proposal we had given about capping interest rates. If this goes through, then it means taking a loan in this country will be very expensive. So, farmers should form associations so as to get loans at cheaper interest rates.

Those associations will also enhance the economic well-being and quality of life for farmers. The poorest people in this country are farmers. I am a pastoralist and I rear goats and other animals. If you compare the life of a farmer and a pastoralist, you will see that the worst work to do in this country is farming. I have a small farm in Kitale where I planted some maize last year, but they went to waste. I took it to Turkana and gave my goats because there was no place to sell. So, we need those associations so that they can give farmers purchasing power to buy things with their money.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, with those few remarks, I support. Thank you.

Very well spoken. I am praising the Member for Turkana Central. Hon. Pukose, you have not spoken and you are the next.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to contribute to this very important Motion by Hon. John Mutunga, Member for Tigania West. Before I support it, let me take this opportunity to wish pupils of Endebess Constituency and those from Kwanza Constituency of my friend, Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi, who is my neighbour and brother success in their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. This is 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.

a very important turning point in their lives and I hope they will put more effort. As the leadership, we will do our best to ensure 100 per cent transition to secondary schools.

This is a very key Motion considering that some of us are from agricultural potential areas. Trans Nzoia is the bread basket of this country in as far as maize farming is concerned. But, currently, we are also diversifying and planting tea, coffee, wheat and other crops. We are also doing large scale dairy farming. We hope the Government will actualise the Crops Act, 2013, where we are able to put data for all our farmers as they form associations. We will be able to know what kind of farming activity farmers within an area are engaged in. It is a shame that this country is always talking of the country facing famine and having a shortage of a certain number of bags of maize when, in reality, those are just figures that are concocted by cartels so that they can have an opportunity to import maize when, at that time, there is enough crop production. It is not backed by anything scientific. People sit in conferences and just claim that we now have a shortage of this number of bags without really understanding how much is being produced at that time. This is because of the seasons in this country in as far as maize farming is concerned. South Rift will produce maize during a certain period while Western and North Rift will produce at different months. So, how can you synchronise all this data so that you can say in sincerity that we have a shortage of this number of bags without lying to Kenyans? That has been our biggest problem. The other biggest problem has been in terms of the farm inputs where we talk of subsidies. Those subsidies have actually never helped farmers. They have helped the middlemen and the businesspeople to make money out of it because when the Government puts up those subsidies, the fertiliser inputs that the Government intends for the farmers ends up with the middlemen and the actual farmer buys at a higher market price. This year, there were no subsidies from the Government and our crop is even better because the quality of the fertiliser that we have used is of good quality. What happens when the Government subsidises? We have cheap imports and fertiliser of low standard being brought into the market and sold to the middlemen and the middlemen sell it to the farmers at a high cost. When we put it in our farms, the yield is lower because what has been imported is substandard. Those are the things that the Government needs to seriously think about. Last year, the Government came up with an issue of having the data of farmers where extension workers, the chiefs and assistant chiefs were tasked to register farmers. However, the programme ended abruptly. It never materialised. It never took place and was never actualised. I do not know where that data ended up because they never took proper data. That was only happening during the time farmers were taking their produce to the NCPB. You would be in line waiting to deliver your produce and the chief or ward administrator would identify you as coming from a certain area. That would happen to even farmers who had rented or leased farms. Farming is not just a question of you producing from your own farm. You can lease land from somebody else and be able to produce. So, those are issues that I think Hon. (Dr.) Mutunga and the team should sit down and address. When you come up with data, please, let us have public participation. Involve the crop- growing constituencies so that they are able to give their input and have proper data being taken for this country, which will be able to help us now and in future, especially to address one of the Big Four Agenda, which is food security. If there is nothing that the Government can do among the Big Four, let them address the issue of food security for this country because that can go a long way to change what is happening in this country. With those few remarks, I support. 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.

That was very well spoken, Hon. Pukose. How is this Government going to plan to feed and secure the population in food security if they do not have the data on the number of farmers that are actually doing the actual farming to secure the rest of the country? Next is Hon. Mwalyo Mbithi, Member for Masinga.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I stand to support this initiative because, for a long time, farmers have been lone rangers in whatever they do. If co-operatives can be established and have structures to pool together resources, many groups can be attracted to them. What they do is that when they form some shady co-operatives and they are given seeds and fertilisers they sell them to other people. When they are together and there is a structure which has been created and they have signed some contracts with exporters, they will gain a lot and no food will be lost in the fields. They will sell their produce profitably because organisations trust societies and groups that are together as opposed to individuals. As an individual, if I sign a contract to plant French beans and then somebody else offers a higher amount, I can be attracted to the higher amount and abandon the contract I had. Therefore, I support the co-operative arrangement. Lack of this arrangement has killed sugarcane farming. When a different organisation comes in, you sell your cane overnight to that organisation rather than the person that has contracted you. So, to safeguard the investor who has invested money, seed and plant inputs is the way to go. We should form those co-operatives. Therefore, I support this initiative because it will help farmers in my constituency of Masinga, who are very hard working and who plant a lot of vegetables, but they go to waste. Therefore, I support that those co-operatives can be formed. It is a good initiative. I thank Hon. Mutunga for that initiative. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker.

Hon. Members, allow me to recognise the presence of parishioners from the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) Ragati Parish, Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Committee from Kieni Constituency, Nyeri County who are in the Public Gallery today. They are welcome to observe the proceedings of the Assembly. We shall have Hon. Sitienei Jepkemboi, Member for Turbo.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to this very important Motion that Hon. (Dr.) Mutunga has moved. Whereas agriculture is the mainstay of this country and 70 per cent of those in the agriculture sector are small-holder farmers, the institution is still very weak. The only way to strengthen the farmers’ institutions is to register them under the private farmers’ associations so that the Government is eased out of the registration exercise which is very expensive. It will be sustainable for a long time because it will be farmer-led.

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It is time farmers’ organisations were formed by the farmers themselves and are farmers- led so that they can realise the benefits of having a farmers’ organisation spear-headed by them. It will also enable the farmers to spear-head their own development because they will be running their own organisations. Through registration, these organisations will enable the farmers’ organisations to take advantage of issues. It will enable them to add their voice. They can interrogate their own issues, share experiences and take advantage of economies of scale through input acquisition and marketing to control the marketing factors. It is time farmers registered themselves into strong organisations so that they can have the cooperative movement back again on its feet. This way, they can have collective action, go through the process of the value chain, undergo training and govern as individual or organised farmers either into companies or organisations. The value chain process will enable the farmers to benefit hundred-fold because it will be farmer-led and organised. At the end of the day, they will dictate the market forces. I support this Motion so that farmers’ organisations can help small holder farmers participate in emerging high value markets such as the export markets against withdrawal of the State from productive and economic functions. This is so that the Government can only provide policy direction, guidance and regulation and farmers’ organisation can spearhead their own development. Therefore, I support this Motion. As I conclude, I wish the students of Turbo Constituency and Uasin Gishu County at large success as they undertake their KCPE. No human is limited. As they continue preparing, I wish them success. I support this Motion. It is time that our farmers conducted and organised their own forums, organisations and companies so that they can benefit wholly from the entire process.

(Hon. (Ms.) Soipan Tuya): Let us have the Member for Mwingi West, Hon. Nguna Ngusya. He is not in the House. Let us have Hon. Jennifer Shamalla.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this extremely important Motion that has been moved by Hon. (Dr.) Mutunga. I congratulate him. I support the Motion. I, first, take the opportunity to pass my best wishes to all the students in primary and secondary schools in Shinyalu Constituency. I pray that they may have wisdom as they undertake their examinations. Going forward, it is important that, as a House and nation, we interrogate the previous failures with regard to registration, organisation and running of farmers associations or co- operatives. Majority of people in this country are farmers. I recall an incident during the International Criminal Court (ICC) hearings where a witness was being examined and was asked what his profession was. He said he was a farmer, teacher and preacher. This was much to the consternation or amazement of the judge who asked him how come he had three professions. In Kenya, we have three professions - the common one being a farmer. I urge the Hon. Member of Parliament who moved the Motion to consider not over- legislating when it comes to registration of associations. Ultimately, the right to association is voluntary. It cannot be enforced by law in as much as they say that farmers’ associations must be registered. Furthermore, it is important that as we go forward to come up with the legislation, we define at what point one can be described as a farmer for commercial purposes. We do not want a situation where if you are growing 20 sukuma wikis in your garden or four bunches of tomato vines, you are distressed or harassed by various officials. 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.

Having stated that, I cannot overstress that in terms of food security and the Big Four Agenda, it is extremely pertinent that we have a data bank. Along with the Data Protection Bill which is currently being debated before this House, this legislation will go very far in ensuring that we not only have food security, but also safe food. With those few remarks, I support the Motion.

(Hon. (Ms.) Soipan Tuya): Let us have the Member for Kwanza, Hon. Kevin Wanyonyi.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me the opportunity. I also take this opportunity to wish every success to the candidates both in primary and secondary schools in Kwanza and Endebess as my colleague has said. May they do well. My neighbour will have time to wish his people success. I do not know them. I take this opportunity to remind our farmers of the Swahili saying that goes: Umoja ni

. In English it says: Unity is strength. I do not know when the rains started beating us. In my case, I had to set up a few milk coolers in my area. I wanted to know how many farmers have dairy cattle and it has taken me four months. I spent so much time trying to find out through the chiefs and assistant chiefs. It has been very difficult to know how many farmers have dairy cows and the production levels so as to move forward. This is a very important Motion. I ask Hon. Mutunga to turn this into a Bill so that we have farmers registered in every area. It is very difficult to do that because last year, we wanted to give fertilisers to farmers and it was difficult to know how many farmers there were in each location. Somebody comes from one area and another from another area. There are crooks and brokers. It is very difficult to know who is doing what. Hon. Mutunga and I will turn this Motion into a Bill so that Kenyans are registered in agri-business entities for us to be more organised. We are very disorganised. There is the issue of buying centres. We are in the season of selling maize in this country. Those of us who come from the North Rift, including my friend, Hon. Pukose, who is there and the Member for Uasin Gishu, want to supply maize to NCPB. The requirement is that you should give your acreage. If you ask a farmer who is supplying maize today to the NCPB with five lorries his acreage, I can tell you that he cannot tell you because he is a broker who benefits more than the farmer. For us to move forward, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this House should move fast.

I want to ask Hon. Mutunga to move very fast next week and God willing, we will turn this Motion into a Bill, so that it can have force and persuade our farmers that unity is strength so that they can move from unknown to known. That way, we will move as a country and know how many farmers are there and how much we can plan. This country is doing very badly. Sometimes back, the major products like tea, coffee, pyrethrum and sugar were organised into sectoral societies. We had Kenya Farmers Association (KFA). I also want to take this opportunity to ask a few Members of the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock who are here that they should revive the KFA. It had registered members and societies which were bringing their produce to the area to be stored. We now have the Warehouse Receipt System Act. We will know who has kept what quantity of whatever product. We want to ask the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock to revive KFA that had registered all the farmers in the country and to go to their warehouses.

We have a problem. I do not know when the rain started beating us in this country because the system has gone haywire. We do not know what is happening. As a House, we should move forward. For example, we were told in 2003 that this country should allocate 10 per 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.

cent of the Budget to agriculture. Ask any Member here. We are very concerned. How much was allocated this year? It is hardly more than 3 per cent of the Budget. So, we are not serious about agriculture. This Motion will make the Government to be serious about putting enough budgetary allocation and resources through agriculture because that is an area where the youths are supposed to be attracted to move to. Today, and it is not something that you do not know, over 16.7 million Kenyans who have certificates, diplomas, university degrees and Masters degrees are looking for jobs. For us to move forward and accommodate the youths, we should have, at least, enough resources allocated to the agriculture sector. The 3 per cent that is allocated is nothing.

Lastly but not the least, we should be a bit serious, particularly in the sectors that we are talking about like the tea sector, coffee sector, sugar sector and maize sector. Let us have knowledgeable people heading those sectors because we just pick somebody because of political expediency. You get somebody leading a very important sector just because of the political expediency. He is put there as the head of the department or that particular sector. That is why people are not very serious about what they are doing. We should move fast. The Members of the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock are here. This Motion is basically agricultural-based. Our voices should be heard so that those who will be appointed as heads of departments, managing directors or chairpersons of boards should be people who are knowledgeable of that particular product, so that they can move forward.

Every sector is dying. We have to save those sectors. We cannot allow this country to be thrown to the dogs just because we are in a comfort zone. I will be the last person to say that this country is now going to the dogs. I am sorry about it but it is the truth. I am asking myself a question and I cannot get the answer. When did the rain start beating us in the agriculture sector, which is supposed to be earning 44 per cent of foreign exchange? We have that problem.

With those few remarks and with a heavy heart, I want to ask my friend, Hon. Mutunga, to move fast. Next week or a week after, we should come up with a Bill in this House. I will be the first one to support you. Thank you very much.

(Hon. (Ms.) Soipan Tuya): Hon. (Ms.) Njoroge Wamaua, Member for Maragwa.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this chance so that I can also congratulate Hon. Mutunga for coming up with a Motion that reflects mostly what our people are doing. Allow me to wish the candidates of Maragwa Constituency and the neighbouring constituency in Murang’a County best wishes during this time that they are sitting for their exam. Those are the pupils of Class Eight and also those who are sitting for the KCSE who are Form Four candidates.

This Motion is very important. If you look at the rural areas that we come from, agriculture forms the backbone of what makes those people place food on the table. Registration of farmers and formation of agri-business entities for improved benefits and sustainable food and nutritional security forms mostly what our people are doing. This is one of the Motions that we are requesting Hon. Members to move with speed and come up with a Bill, so that we can compel the Government to look at this sector through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. Many are the times when we say that the CS for the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries needs to move from the office, so that he can move closer to our people to understand the reasons why Hon. Mutunga is coming up with this Motion. The best way to organise people of common ground is through organisation of co-operatives that will have a one- 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.

on-one understanding of the problems that our people face and they can express their interests in one voice because they are together.

This is not only for the farmers but also the other people. Those who agitate for grievances to be looked into always come together. For example, we have trade unions for teachers, nurses, doctors and others. That is how they are heard and the challenges that they face are addressed. I, therefore, support the call for Government to support the Kenya National Farmers Federation in registration of farmers in order to empower those great people who support a big share of the economy. Kenyan farmers have lately faced existence of manipulated market and lack of clear policies which protect them. It is clear that our agriculture is at stake and there is need for action.

Registering farmers will enable small-scale farmers to have collective bargaining power. This will assist them to address their challenges such as high input prices and protection against competition from the international market.

Most of our farmers especially in Kiambu County are involved in poultry farming. They have challenges marketing their eggs. But if they come up with a co-operative and the Government assists them to market their eggs locally and outside the country, they will make a living instead of complaining about the flooding of eggs from neighbouring countries, while we have not assisted our people to access markets. Many farmers are abandoning farming and yet, they have employed many people who do not know what to do next.

In the past, as much as we are talking about formation of co-operatives, they failed because most were not prepared for international trade that came with complex challenges that required updated methods of farming and marketing. So, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, during legislation and formation of the agri-business entities meetings, they will discuss farming methods they can use. As much as we are talking about marketing, in some countries, they look at the quality and standards of the goods we export to them. There are some countries that say that some of our food crops have a lot of chemicals. Others prescribe the kind of manure they want applied on the food crops so that we can sell to them. It is during those meetings that they will discuss the conditions they will have to meet in order to sell their produce in certain countries. They will also discuss the kind of manure they need to use. That is why legislation on farmers will assist them empower themselves in the new liberal market so that they move away from traditional practices.

Through this federation, they will get informed and information is strength. Therefore, there is need to ensure that the federation will manage the whole process of registering all Kenyan farmers so that we can do away with mismanagement that has led to the collapse of the co-operative societies that were there before.

This will also minimise or assist to eliminate the cartels or brokers that have really messed up the market. As a co-operative, they will secure the route where to market their goods together and do away with cartels that do not mean well for the farmers.

This is a Motion that will assist our people. These are times when our constituents listen to what we are debating in the Assembly and feel that this is what they sent us here to do. This is a Motion that really focuses on their lives especially by virtue that the backbone of the country is agriculture.

I support the Hon. Member and also request that he comes up with a Bill that will compel the Government to implement it because, if we leave it as a Motion, it may not see the light of the day.

Thank you very much. I support. 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.

(Hon. (Ms.) Soipan Tuya): Well said. Hon. Members, I notice a lot of interest and rightly so, because of the nature of the Motion. But we are running out of time. I just want to remind Members that we have not exhausted the time for the Motion. We will have another one hour and 23 minutes to pick from when the Motion is slotted back in the Order Paper. Our next Speaker will be the Member for Kitui East. I assumed you are on this other side. You are lucky because I was hoping to pick a Member from this other side though you may not exhaust your time.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. At least, I am at the boundary of the two sides. Let me take the first opportunity to wish the best of luck to candidates in Kitui East in both primary and secondary schools who are sitting for the exams. It is time to prove that no human being is limited. Go for the best. Coming back to the Motion at hand, it is time to look at the agriculture sector critically and make critical decisions and policies within it for several reasons. The agriculture sector is where we have great employment potential. If any young man or young lady in the village or urban centres decided to get employed within the agriculture sector, they would just wake up tomorrow morning and start working and within two or three weeks, they would be earning. That young lady who wants to venture into agriculture needs to be supported. It is through such initiatives like this Motion where the entrepreneurs in agribusiness can be supported. One of the things I am looking at is that we are in a capitalist economy where production is competitive, but farmers can come together during marketing. Each farmer can produce at their own level but when it comes to marketing because of the challenges of cartels and competition with other international markets, it is good for farmers to come together through such initiatives as suggested by this Motion. Also looking at political economics, the farmers of Kenya are competing at the market level with products from farmers in other countries whose governments have supported them through subsidies and also lower cost of production requirements. For example, the cost of electricity in our country affects each and every farmer in poultry and feed production. The cost of electricity, fuel, diesel and paraffin in Kenya is too high compared to the cost of the same energy in South Africa. That informs why an egg will come into Kenya from South Africa and be cheaper than an egg produced in Kiambu. This is very dangerous. I would propose that the Mover graduates this Motion to a Bill because we have to give it a serious discussion and make critical decisions. The person in charge of agriculture sector should be directly responsible to the farmers. I am not in agreement that we have security, citizen services and the Registrar of Persons and Correctional Services under the presidency, but the sector that is feeding our population, the sector that is creating the largest opportunity for jobs is being run by a separate Ministry. I would propose that the President, the person who was directly elected by the people, takes charge of the Ministry of Agriculture. There is an example which was set by former President for Malawi, Hon. Bingu wa Mutharika. Before Mutharika came to power, Malawi was worse than Ukambani. But within two years of Mutharika’s leadership, Malawi was giving food relief to countries in Africa. I would suggest, as we formulate those policies, that…

(Hon. (Ms.) Soipan Tuya): Hon. Mbai, I will have to cut you short because of the time. Please, keep your thoughts in order. You will have a balance of six minutes when we resume debate on the Motion.

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(Hon. (Ms.) Soipan Tuya): Hon. Members, the time being 1.00 p.m. the House stands adjourned until Wednesday, 30th October 2019, at 2.30 p.m.

The House rose at 1.00 p.m.

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