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{
    "id": 1086901,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1086901/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 475,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tongaren, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Eseli Simiyu",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 141,
        "legal_name": "David Eseli Simiyu",
        "slug": "david-eseli"
    },
    "content": " I understand his reason for protesting. We will not bring party politics but I understand his reason for protesting. He is allowed. I was just saying that sugar has a very interesting history throughout the world. In fact, sugar was the driver of slave trade. The reason our brothers and sisters were sold by wayward kings and our leaders into slavery... Part of what drove slavery is sugar-cane. They were taken to the Caribbean and South America mainly because of the sugar industry. They were to go and provide cheap labour. It was cotton in the US, but in the rest of the world, it was sugar. So, sugar is a very dangerous thing. It is sweet but very dangerous. In this country now, we are facing a situation where our people are almost becoming slaves because of sugar. Being sugar-cane farmers, they have been driven into poverty. When we created Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) in the last Parliament, it really killed sugar. As it killed tea and coffee, it also killed sugar because we renamed the Sugar Board. It is good that now the Sugar Board is coming back. We formed AFA, but with time tea has left AFA. Coffee is also in the queue of leaving AFA. So, sugar must also leave AFA so that it is run as a separate cash crop. In western Kenya where I come from, sugar-cane is the mainstay of our peoples’ economy. In fact, the collapse of the sugar industry has led to such high levels of poverty in western Kenya that some people now think they will come and distribute free money and get votes there. Some of them have been the drivers of our poverty. Some of them played a part in killing the sugar industry. Their intention is to impoverish us and then come and buy our votes cheaply. We refuse! This Bill is going to introduce the Sugar Development Fund. The Sugar Development Fund is very critical. It kept the sugar industry afloat in difficult times. With the Sugar Development Fund, it means that factories can borrow money, repair the factories and keep them running. Factories can also borrow money and develop sugar-cane. Where I come from, there is Nzoia Sugar Company which has the largest nucleus estate. Unfortunately, the nucleus estate is virtually gone. The then MD tried to plant 300 acres and wanted us to clap for him and yet, the factory has over 14,000 acres. If the Sugar Development Fund would have gotten that money, he would have developed the nucleus estate. So, this Bill is very critical to the survival of our people. I beg this Parliament to pass it. With the passage of this Bill, we will have money for sugar-cane development and research. We will develop the best varieties of sugar-cane that can survive in our places. Again, the best thing with this Bill is that it will ensure timely harvest of farmers’ cane, proper weighing of cane, including adding another parameter of determining price, including the sucrose content. This will give our farmers better returns than they have now. Also, this Bill allows the production of other by-products in making sugar such as alcohol. Even the waste that comes from cane can be used to make paper or board. Hon. Wamunyinyi has worked on this Bill so well that it breathes so well; it gives freedom to make the sugar industry more paying than it is now. The catch is the issue of privatisation of sugar companies. It must be approached carefully. As we said, a company like Nzoia Sugar Company has the largest nucleus consisting of 14,000 acres. If it were to be privatized, I would suggest that the 14,000 acres revert to the county 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."
}