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Senate committees call for quashing of new tea regulations

Friday, November 13th, 2020 00:00 | By
Tea farming. Photo/Courtesy

REFORMS: The Senate Sessional Committee on Delegated Legislation and the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries have resolved not to accede to the Crops (Tea Industry) Regulations, 2020, and recommended that the Senate annul the regulations in their entirety.

While making a statement relating to the activities of the Delegated Legislation Committee to the Senate, Chairman Senator Mohammed Faki, said some of the regulations were not in the interest of the counties, adding that they should clearly provide for the role of counties since agriculture is a devolved function.

Devolved function

“The committee did not accede to the Crops (Tea Industry) Regulations, 2020 and will be seeking a resolution of the Senate to annul them as some of the provisions were not in the interest of counties.

The regulations should clearly provide for the role of the counties noting that Agriculture is a devolved function,” he told the house. 

In reaching the conclusion, the committees said that they considered the regulations at length and received submissions from various stakeholders who made both written and oral submissions. 

Some of the stakeholders the committees engaged included farmers from Nandi, Bomet, Kericho and Murang’a Counties; the Kenya Tea Development Agency and its subsidiary companies and their representatives; East African To Trade Association; and the Council of County Governors.

In the report, the committees observe that the regulations assigned some functions to the Agriculture and Food Authority which are devolved functions under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution. 

In particular, the Committee observed that registration of warehouses by the Agriculture and Food Authority flies in the face of the law, noting that the Warehouse Receipts System Act, 2019 has tasked county governments, through the respective County Executive Committee Members, to register and license all warehouse operating within respective counties. 

The committees faulted the regulations for failing to provide for County Tea inspectors and dispute resolution mechanisms at the county level with regard to registration and licenses.

Further, the committee held that the registration of tea packers should be assigned as a county government function.  

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