•Promotes value addition, Seeks to have coffee processed and packaged before export
•Accuses Met of gambling, calls on Kenyans to pray for rain to prove it wrong
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has called on MPs to support his coffee bill that calls for processing and packaging coffee before export.
He said it has already gone to the government printer.
Kuria told MPs that supporting the bill will raise farmers' income through value-addition because packaged coffee earns more than raw beans.
Kuria said it was sad that none of the coffee farmers today can educate their children using meagre proceeds from coffee, saying something needs to be done about it.
Kuria was speaking on Thursday in Mahiga, Nyeri county, during the burial of Ivy Wangechi who was killed by a spurned stalked on April 9.
The MP said the standard set for Nyeri is high, having produced prominent people and challenged the leadership to fill the big shoes and address people’s problems.
“And as we approach the next elections, do not lower the standard of the great leadership of this county,” he said.
"The people of Nyeri should therefore not elect useless people as in other counties such as his own county of Kiambu and Murang’a," Kuria said.
He said he has stopped the politics of Kieleweke and Tanga Tanga to concentrate on development issues. At the end of the day, those two 'teams' will not put food on the tables of hungry Kenyans.
The legislator called on Kenyans to pray for rain, accusing the Met of gambling. He called on people to prove them wrong after they said there will be no rains.
Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege and her Nyeri counterpart Rahab Mukami said they were ready to support the bill.
Chege said is the only way farmers will reap fruits of their labour.
Other MPs present included Gichuki Mugambi of Othaya and Mathira’s Rigathi Gachagua.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)