For several months now, Kenyans have been treated to a number of very bad laws packaged as the President’s delivery on the Big Four Agenda.
It started with the Dairy Industry (Licensing) Regulations of 2018, through which farmers would no longer be able to sell, offer for sale or expose for consumption any milk in its raw form without a license issued by the Dairy Board. The Board said at the time that the proposals were necessitated by the need to update policy and regulations with the liberalised nature of industry; adopt to changing technological innovations; respond to consumer demands with regard to quality and safety as well as enable access of Kenyan produce to markets. Looked at summarily, they seemed right. The Regulations enabled a transition from the hitherto unbeneficial subsistence production of milk to a commercialised industry which not only increased quantity but also guaranteed quality. In one move, the President had delivered on food security while boosting manufacturing. But are they?
Had they passed, the biggest beneficiary of the changes would have been the Kenyatta-owned Brookside Dairy Limited – the market leader in the dairy industry. Brookside owes its dominance to an aggressive acquisition strategy that has seen it take over established competitors. As expected, Kenyans were not amused and the regulations had to be suspended.
No sooner had their hearts rested than Kenyans were slapped with another curious law in the form of the Food (Food crops) Regulations of 2018. Among others, the Regulations prohibited farmers from using raw animal manure for the production of food crops. According to the ministry of Agriculture, the Regulations are aimed at addressing the various challenges in the food crops industry thereby boosting food security and enabling President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda.
The truth however is that, like the Dairy Industry (Licensing) Regulations before them, these laws are meant to favour capital interests. Research is conclusive that there is absolutely nothing wrong with using manure as government would have Kenyans believe.
On its part, fertilizer is not only harmful to the environment; illicit-fertiliser trade is a billion-shilling industry in this country. Over the years, the big boys have benefited from a bad game where they generate news of fake fertilisers and instigate arrests and confiscation of cargo, allowing them operate as monopolies during the planting season. Far from what we have been sold, the Regulations merely legitimise fertiliser cartels by forcing farmers to buy their product.
Then came the Housing Fund Regulations of 2018 which provide for monthly payments by employers into the National Housing Development Fund 1.5 percent of the employee’s monthly basic salary. The potential benefit, we are told, is that the small earner will have a chance to own decent accommodation under the affordable housing scheme while his higher earning brother benefits from applying the payments as a savings scheme. On the face of it, the new taxes seem to enable Article 43 (1) (b) of the Constitution which provides for the right to accessible and adequate housing whilst catapulting Uhuru’s agenda for affordable housing – only that they came without any public participation whatsoever.
Raising money for elections
These ridiculous pieces of legislation must not be viewed in isolation. It ought to be remembered that they are coming at a time when the Executive is deep into a high stakes battle to control the JSC while also firmly in bed with the opposition. Our take is that it is politics… it’s been politics all along.
The ODPP and the DCI can be credited with some noble interventions so far. However, their real mandate is to clear the bushes in preparation for the coming elections – the actual planting season. The embarrassment of 2017 cannot be repeated. The ascendency of William Ruto to the highest seat cannot be countenanced, at least not with the power it currently holds. To do so, those opposed to his rise are leaving no stone unturned, and are calling in every favour they can get.
In the Law Society of Kenya, the state is working with aforementioned agencies and its leadership to ensure Prof Tom Ojienda, a known rebel, does not return to the JSC. The same agencies have also combined efforts to frustrate the Judiciary.
With no resistance from the opposition, the buyable Legislature and Cabinet are working in overdrive to churn out laws that will bring in the money. Masked as the President’s delivery on the Big Four, these laws are nothing short of the legalisation of daylight robbery at the expense of a constitutional transition of power in 2022, and the overall well-being of Kenyans. (
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