The Government has taken irrigation seriously

By John Mututho

[email protected]

There seems to be a serious disconnect between facts and fiction in the matter of Government approach to irrigation.

I was privileged to serve as chairman of Agriculture, Livestock and Co-operatives Committee in the 10th Parliament but reading through an article by a respected advocate Pravin Bowry in The Standard August 7th, I find it imperative to highlight the broad issues touching on the legislative agenda in the recent past.

The genesis of Agricultural Acts dates back to 1907 when the colonial government decided to introduce legislative mechanism in running of the Kenya colony. The guiding principles were two-fold: to safeguard European agriculture and to introduce it to Africans.

The big appetite for African lands prompted the colonial office to institute a commission in 1920 headed by one Victor Cavendish the then Duke of Devonshire. In 1923, this commission reported back in what is popularly known as the Devonshire White Paper which conclusively declared that “Kenya is primarily an African territory and His Majesty’s Government think it necessary to record their considered opinion that the interests of the African population must be paramount, and that, if and when, those interests and interests of the migrant races conflict the former should prevail”.

Based on the philosophy of containing any possibility of expansion in African and Asian immigrants agriculture, the colonial government started an avalanche of statutes aimed at creating a stopgap as they introduced European agriculture to Africans. This gave birth to several institutions such as Pyrethrum Board of Kenya, Coffee Board of Kenya, Kenya Farmers Association, National Irrigation Board (NIB) Cotton and Lint Marketing Board, Maize and Wheat Board among others.

Curiously, after Independence, the trend continued with the creation of Tarda, Horticultural Crops Development Authority etc. To do this, a multiplicity of new laws were enacted such that by 2011, there were not less than 150 statutes and 350 legal notices affecting agriculture.

Although the first development plan – the Swynnerton Plan of 1954 pronounced bold measures to stimulate agriculture, the legislators carried on the colonial mentality of suppressing the African farmer leading to today’s crisis where we have over sixty parastatals, Authorities, Boards etc, seriously draining the Ministry of Agriculture as constituted today. Having sat in the Parliamentary Budget Committee in the 10th Parliament, I can accurately describe these parastatals as “haemorrhagic” to development votes in the Government

For over 10 years, these sectoral ministries in agriculture covering Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Fisheries, Environment, Co-operatives, Wildlife and Water continued discussing this legislative mismatch and ultimately formed Agricultural Sector Co-ordinating Unit (tasked to reduce the number of laws affecting agriculture to less than five. To do this, they sought help from Tegemeo Institute of Egerton University and senior local law firms.

Thus the current laws were enacted: - The Crops Act 2013, Kenya Agriculture Research Organisation 2013, Fisheries Act 2013, Agriculture Fisheries and Food Authority Act 2013.

The intention was to have one regulatory body to make compliance comfortable and allow a good business environment to the farmer.

The irrigation Act CAP 347 was spared at the committee stage as recorded in the Hansard records of December 13th last year. This was meant to allow further legislation to strengthen NIB. It is on this basis that the repeal of CAP 347 as in the Crops Act 2013 was effected by Attorney General Githu Muigai.

I believe the same matter I raised in my letter to him was also raised by the Clerk of the National Assembly and in my opinion Prof Muigai in de-gazetting the repeal of CAP 347 acted professionally and within the law and this should put the matter to rest.

 

Writer is former Naivasha MP

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