On Tuesday, the National Assembly rejected the Mung Beans Bill 2022 at its second reading stage.

During the plenary session, the majority of MPs voted against the contentious Bill, which contained distasteful provisions that required a 30-day mediation process to decide its destiny.

Speakers Moses Wetangula (National Assembly) and Amason Kingi (Senate) will now appoint a mediation committee, which will include an equal number of members from both houses.

The committee will be responsible with creating an agreed-upon version of the Bill within 30 days and presenting a report to both Houses.

“If both Houses approve the mediation committee’s report and the mediated version of the Bill, the Bill is deemed to have been passed,” according to a statement from Parliament.

Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua sponsored the Bill, which was passed by the Senate before being forwarded to the National Assembly.

It intends to facilitate and build a framework for regulating and promoting Kenya’s mung bean business, as well as increasing its monetary worth.

The Bill prohibits the sale of the beans, also known as Ndengu, without a license from the individual’s county government.

Contravening the aforementioned clause will be regarded an offense, and anyone found guilty will receive a fine of not more than Ksh.1 million, imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.

Likewise, the Bill requires that licenses be awarded by appointed County Executive Committees (CECs) comprised of a chairperson, one person representing mung bean growers in the respective county, and three public officers from the agriculture department.

Every member is also required to keep a register of all mung bean growers registered in their particular county, including the grower’s name, the location, size, and parcel number of the land on which the mung bean is grown, and the kind of mung beans grown.

Each county, however, is free to set its own conditions for registering a grower operating inside its borders.

Senator Wambua rejected reports that all Kenyans would need to obtain a license to produce the beans, stating that only individuals or businesses intending to market, process, or engage in large-scale trading of mung beans and related goods would require permits.

He went on to say that the Bill merely requires small and medium-sized mung bean farmers to register with the relevant County Executive Committee (CEC) member, same as tea and coffee growers do.