Senate · Afternoon Sitting

Clerk, do we have quorum? Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly ring the Quorum Bell for 10 minutes. Order, hon. Senators. Sen. Mbugua just take your seat, please. Clerk, proceed to call the next Order.

[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]

[(Sen. Mbugua took his seat)]

Senate Majority Leader, proceed.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table of the Senate, today, Wednesday, 23rd October, 2024- The National Treasury and Economic Planning, 2024 Budget Review and Outlook Paper. Mr. Speaker, I beg to lay.

[(Sen. Cheruiyot laid the document on the Table)]

Chairperson of Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing or any Member of the Committee. Senate Majority Leader, would you please lay the Paper on behalf of the Chairperson Standing Committee on Roads and Transportation.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table of the Senate, today, Wednesday, 23rd October, 2024- The Report of the Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing on its consideration of the Public Transport Motorcycle Regulations Bill (Senate Bill No.38 of 2023) . Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to lay.

[(Sen. Cheruiyot laid the document on the Table)]

Next Order.

Sen. Onyonka proceed. This Statement is dropped.

The Hon. Sen. Chute. Who are you holding brief for?

Sen. Chute.

Proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare regarding the delay in the disbursement of gratuity by the Marsabit County government to ward officers who were contracted between 2017 and 2022. In the Statement, the Committee should-

Sen. Osotsi proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations regarding the operations of Vihiga County Public Service Board. Regulation No.25 (1) (b) of the Public Finance Management (PFM) County Government Regulation 2015 caps county government expenditure on wages and benefits at 35 per cen…

Senator for Nandi County proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for the indulgence.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.52 (1) to make a statement on an issue of general topical concern and national importance, namely: Ruth Chepng’etich’s incredible performance in shattering the women’s Marathon World record and the overall superb performance of the Kenyan team at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, 13th October, 2024. Once again, our athletes have brought glory t…

was followed by Ethiopia’s Mohamed Esa who finished at 2:04:39 and our own who is also my good friend and neighbour in Nandi, the home of champions, Amos Kipruto, in the third position at 2:04:50. Other Kenyans, Vincent Kipng’etich and Daniel Ebenyo also finished strongly. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it was also dis-heartening to witness a section of the media across the world, castigating unwarranted doub…

Next Order.

Clerk, we have the requisite quorum. Hon. Senators, I will now proceed to put the Question. Hon. Senators, I am going to put the question because clearly, most Senators were not following this. We have concluded debate on the consideration of the National Assembly amendments to the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill (Senate Bills No. 19 of 2024) . Hon. Senators, I hope it is clear t…

[(No response from the Senators)]

Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is a straight-forward matter which I wish my colleagues to understand. It is not my Report, but it is Sen. Ali Roba’s and Sen. Faki’s. It is Sen. Faki, Sen. (Dr.) Hamida and Sen. Eddy who should be explaining. They are Members of the Committee on Budget and Finance. They rejected the amendments of the National Assembly. That is what is in our Report. When you vote, yes, you…

It is procedural.

[(The Clerk at-the-Table and Sen. Cheruiyot consulted with the Speaker)]

Senate Majority Leader, please proceed.

[(Loud consultations)]

Mr. Speaker, Sir, having seen how the question that you put is framed, since what is in question is not the Report of the Committee, it is the amendments of the Assembly, we reject them. We vote, no. That takes us to mediation.

Hon. Senators, I will now put the question. Next Order.

[(Question put and negatived)]

At the interruption of the debate on Tuesday 22nd, the hon. Senator for Nandi County was on his feet and had a balance of 13 minutes. You may proceed, Sen. Cherarkey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I was on Clause 19. I would like to continue thanking your office for the support through the Secretariat and also our colleagues in the National Assembly on this mediation version of the Sugar Bill of 2024. I would like to assure farmers, especially our sugarcane-growing farmers from Migori, Kwale, Nandi, Kericho, Kakamega, Busia, Kisumu counties, and wherever they a…

I would like to also thank the Senate Majority and Minority leaders for ensuring that we got nominated to the Mediation Committee. We shall not forget their favour, before the eyes of the Lord. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in Clause 19, we agreed that a miller shall not purchase sugar crop from or accept sugar crop delivered by a grower, and a grower shall not sell or deliver sugar crop to a miller unless t…

Kapkeben, all the way to Mumbwa, which neighbours Aaron Cheruiyot’s county, the roads are impassible, yet there is a lot of money that is paid through Cess. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the wisdom of the Committee, which you appointed, we thought the Cess should go back to the Kenya Sugar Board so that they can assist in maintenance of infrastructure. In fact, in the definition, we did not say only roads…

On the southern sugar catchment area, we will have Migori, Homa Bay, Kisii and Narok. At the Coast, we will have Kwale, Tana River and Lamu. Those were proposed catchment areas that we hope our farmers will be comfortable with because some counties do not have a factory. For example, in Nandi, we do not have a sugar milling factory. We only depend on Kakamega, Naitiri and Butale. On the other side…

Proceed, Sen. Sifuna.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I did not want to interrupt Sen. Cherarkey, but I did not quite get what he said about how the Committee dealt with my amendment. Read the report at page 10, it says the Committee unanimously rejected the proposal to exempt industrial sugar from the sugar development levy. They said there was no justification to exempt only imported industrial sugar from paying the sugar developm…

Honestly, I have to express my disappointment with the Mediation Committee. I am in the unique position where I am the Senator of the City of Nairobi, but also a sugarcane farmer. That unique position allows me to have perspective of the various interests that we were trying to protect, unlike my colleagues from upcountry, whose perspective was limited, in my view. I very respectfully submit to th…

taxation every financial year. I suspect that this will also put the pressure further on these manufacturers because it will increase the cost of production. When the cost of production increases and then see higher prices for these commodities, we will have lower sales. This directly translates to shrinking employment in terms of the number of people that can be hired. Some of our factories her…

Proceed, Sen. Boy.

Asante sana, Bw. Spika, kwa kunipa fursa kuchangia Hoja hii. Kama Seneta wa Kaunti ya Kwale, kwa niaba ya watu wa Kwale, naunga mkono hii Sugar Bill. Kusema ukweli, kule kwetu kuna matatizo mengi, haswa katika Kiwanda cha Sukari cha Ramisi. Juzi tulikuwa na tatizo lililofanya wafanyikazi wa kiwanda hicho kugoma kwa sababu ya usimamizi mbaya. Wafanyikazi huenda kwa karibu miezi mitano au sita bila…

Tuna shida nyingi sana katika sekta ya sukari haswa kule Kwale. Juzi nilisema katika mkutano kwamba kama mwekezaji huyo ameshindwa na kiwanda hicho, basi aletwe mwekezaji mwingine ambaye ataweza kuendesha kiwanda hicho ili wananchi wapate manufaa. Kinachofanyika ni kuwa huwa kuna mgomo baada ya miezi miwili ama mitatu kwa sababu ya usimamizi mbaya. Kwa hivyo, mimi ninaunga mkono hii Bill. Kwa ha…

Proceed, Sen. Oketch Gicheru.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute on this report of the Mediation Committee on the Sugar Bill (National Assembly Bills No.34 of 2024) . Yesterday, I raised an issue of quorum to ensure that as many Senators as possible can contribute to this Motion today. I think this is the most important Bill you can support this year. I presume that in every ho…

I say this because for the first time, we are seeing regulation, development, and promotion of the industry being a function of a board. Secondly, there is a proposal that this board is also going to coordinate the activities of the value chain actors in the industry. There is nothing that can make the sugar industry as economically and commercially viable as being able to coordinate activities o…

Close to this is Clause 38 of this Bill, which talked broadly about the sugarcane development levy that is tied together with Clause 39 which ends up establishing the sugarcane development fund. This fund used to be in the defunct sugarcane board, but it was not broadened enough to help the plight of farmers. This one establishes some ways of supporting farmers when they have planted their sugarca…

pricing cane for farmers. If you are a farmer who has good sucrose content, you should earn more than a farmer with a cane with less sucrose content. This will deal with the duality problem of leasing because of the inefficiency of sugarcane industries, and it will help with the general issue of pricing of the cane prices for farmers. Lastly, I want to laud the fact that this Bill has also been a…

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity also to add my voice to my colleagues. First of all, I support the Bill because the sugar industry, when it first started in areas that have industries and crops planted, that is, Western, Nyanza and many other parts of the country, was a booming farming business. People managed their lives well because of this crop and they wer…

Honorable Senators, I shall defer calling the Mover to reply, since the Mover is not around. I shall also reorganize the Order Paper and go to Order No.18. Next Order.

[(Reply to the Motion deferred)]

Sen. Crystal Asige to move the Motion.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I beg to move that the County Government Elections Law Amendment Bill (Senate Bill No.2 of 2024, be read a Second Time. This is going to be a very simple submission of this Bill because it is a very simple amendment that I am proposing to this House to consider to move forward and support. As you know, of course, I have had four other Bills that I have pass…

progressively ensure that at least five per cent of appointive and elected positions are filled by PWDs across the country. Article 177 of the Constitution provides for the composition of a county assembly, as you know. Specifically, Article 177(c) provides that the county assembly shall include members representing marginalized groups, including PWDs and the youth, as prescribed by an Act of Par…

[[The Temporary Speaker (Sen. Abdul Haji) left the Chair] [The Temporary Speaker (Sen. Mumma) in the Chair]]

None of the 21 I have just mentioned have any PwD representation and it is a tremendous shame to know that even the capital city, which has a high population of people, including PwDs, has no one speaking for PwDs at the county assembly level. Counties which did not nominate members to represent the youth include Machakos, Makueni, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Nandi and Kisii. Counties that did not nominat…

Senator, it is now Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I also mentioned Kakamega, which I believe you are a resident of but I thank you for letting me know. The Bill therefore seeks to unbundle the seats envisaged under Article 177 (1) (c) of the Constitution as well as Section 7 (1) (a) of the County Governments Act and Section 36 (8) of the Elections Act. This is to ensure that PwDs across the country, the youth a…

Sen. Murgor, what is the issue?

Madam Temporary Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order No. 41, I draw your attention to the fact that when I look around, there is no quorum in the House.

Serjeant-at-Arms, please, ring the bell for 10 minutes.

[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]