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{
    "id": 1086892,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1086892/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 466,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, first, allow me to say that what Hon. Wafula Wamunyinyi has done is exactly what a representative of the people should do. He deserves congratulations and accolades for bringing a Bill to address issues that we have just been talking about. I know I was in the Tenth Parliament which did away with the Kenya Sugar Board and lumped it together under one management which has failed us. So, I thank Hon. Wamunyinyi for thinking it wise to bring an amendment to the Act to reintroduce the Kenya Sugar Board which will now help address issues of sugar-cane farmers. However, there are certain things that we need to address especially when we talk about the sugar industry. The problems bedevilling the sugar industry are too many and need a concerted effort by the Government to address them to bring back the lost glory to the sugar-cane farmers. I have seen, in the Bill, the duties and responsibilities of the Kenya Sugar Board. The Sugar Development Levy will now get to the Board together with other funding and then the Board will appropriate and use that money. The following issues need to be addressed by this Board: First, the levy must be spent to improve the infrastructure of the sugar-cane growing areas. Once the Board is in place, it has to make sure that the money that has been collected as levy goes back to improve the road network so that sugar-cane is transported from the farms with ease. If you go to most of those sugar-cane growing areas – and I want to specifically address the Sukari Industries Limited which is in my county and in Ndhiwa Constituency represented here by Hon. Martin Owino and he will confirm this – the roads are not being improved at all using the money that comes from the taxation that is imposed by the local government. The county government just collects money, but does not plough back that money in the development of the road network. The machines are so heavy. They even destroy roads. Hon. Martin Owino will be doing the roads through the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA). Those roads cannot even last for a month because of the heavy machinery from the factory and yet, money is being paid and not utilised for the very purpose it is being collected. There is something else I want the Board to address. I am going back to Sukari Industries. That industry is importing sugar from outside the country, bringing it to the factory, packaging it The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}