“The authors of this false information are hereby warned to abstain from circulating malicious falsehoods with the intention of causing panic among Kenyans,” he said/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 23 – Parliament has denied the existence of a Bill circulating on social media platforms titled ‘Milk Bill 2019’ that purports to regulate the production and sale of milk by farmers to consumers and other third parties.
The Clerk of the National Assembly Michael Sialia in statement on Friday said the information doing rounds on social media is “false” and urged the public to ignore it.
He further notes that the fake legislative proposal is meant to cause panic especially in the agricultural sector, while insisting that no such document has been proposed or tabled in Parliament for debate by MPs.
He warned the authors of the fake document to cease with its dissemination.
“The authors of this false information are hereby warned to abstain from circulating malicious falsehoods with the intention of causing panic among Kenyans,” he said.
Part of the content outlined in the fake Bill seeks to prohibit farmers from selling their fresh milk to neighbours, prohibits them from selling their milk to hawkers among others.
It purports that the price of the milk from dairy farmers will be based on quality not quantity and the buyer will determine the quality, a fine of Sh500,000 will be imposed on farmers flouting the rules among other proposals.
According to the House Standing Order 104 touching on Public Bills, a legislative proposal for which a member is in charge shall, together with a memorandum setting out its objectives, be submitted to the Speaker.
The Speaker shall refer the legislative proposal and the memorandum to the Clerk who upon being satisfied that the legislative proposal is in order as to format and style, shall submit the legislative proposal to the Speaker with recommendations.
The Speaker shall direct either that the legislative proposal be not proceeded with or that it be accepted, and if the Speaker certifies that the legislative proposal is accepted the proposal shall be published as a Bill and may be read a First Time.
A minister or any other member desiring to introduce a Bill shall, upon-publication of the Bill in the Gazette, deliver to the Clerk a sufficient number of copies of the Bill for distribution to Members and on receipt of such copies, the Clerk shall forthwith dispatch a copy to every member.
A Bill shall then be introduced by way of First Reading on the Floor of the House.
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