The National Assembly on Tuesday rejected the Mung Bill, 2022 which has been in the recent months the subject of public debate over its contentious clauses.
A majority of MPs rejected the bill at the Second Reading Stage. The bill now proceeds to the meditation stage where it will be subjected to greater scrutiny. A committee will be appointed to look into the clauses and make amendments suggested by both houses.
Mung Bill, 2022 proposed by Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua sought to regulate the large-scale growing, processing and marketing of the cereal within the country, which attracted widespread criticism from farmers, Kenyans and other interested stakeholders.
Parliament in its message to the public noted parliamentarians rejected the controversial Bill by a majority.
"The National Assembly by a majority has rejected the Mung Bill, 2022 at the second reading stage. The bill which seeks to regulate the production processing and marketing of mung beans in Kenya will now proceed to mediation," Parliament noted in a statement.
The whole process of appointing a mediation committee is laid out in Article 113 of the Constitution of Kenya. The law provides a mechanism for both the National Assembly and the Senate to negotiate and come up with a fitting law approved by both houses.
The Mung Beans Bill, 2022, was published on December 30, 2022. It was first read in the Senate on February 15, 2023.
Among other things, the Bill had clauses requiring individuals or entities involved in marketing or large-scale trading of mung beans to obtain a license from their respective county governments.
Equally, Small and Medium-Sized farmers were required to register with the County Executive Committee (CEC) to help keep a register of growers and assess crop capacity.
Failure to comply, as proposed by the bill, could attract fines up to Ksh1 million.
Senator Wambua has however cleared the air that the Bill does not force farmers to obtain licenses emphasizing that it seeks to enhance the mung bean sector's competitiveness globally by establishing a structured regulatory framework.
“This data is crucial for strategizing on how to make the Kenyan mung bean industry competitive on an international scale,” Wambua stated.
