Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1086932,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1086932/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 506,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Lugari, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ayub Angatia",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2153,
        "legal_name": "Ayub Savula Angatia",
        "slug": "ayub-savula-angatia"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I will actually deliver my support remarks on this Bill in two minutes. I was part of the team that brought the Agriculture and Food Authority Act. I was the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries that time but we made a big mess. We thought we were going to amalgamate all agricultural institutions into one institution but it has failed. This Act brings the solution to the sugar industry in Kenya. Kenyan sugar demand is 800,000 metric tonnes per year. The production has dropped from 5,000 metric tonnes to 4,000 metric tonnes. This avenue brings in an issue where cartels manipulate the deficit to bring in sugar from outside the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member countries. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the production of sugar in Brazil is US$700 per tonne while in Kenya we produce the same commodity at a cost of US$7,000 per tonne. This brings in the problem of sugar import and cartels bring sugar from non-COMESA countries like Brazil, and they transport it to Uganda using the East African Common Market tariff and then the sugar lands back in Kenya. So, the Kenyan produced sugar cannot effectively compete with the sugar that has landed from Brazil, taken to Uganda, and then comes back under the East African Common Market Treaty. This Bill creates the original Fund, that is the Sugar Development Fund and the Sugar Development Levy. The Sugar Development Levy will assist the factories while the Sugar Development Fund will support sugar-cane farmers. The issue of privatisation also comes into play. The COMESA regulations are that all sugar factories should not be owned by Government. All sugar factories should be privatised to allow private capital to be injected in, to modernise the machines, to create efficiency and have a lean and competent staff to ensure that they improve on production. This Bill is the original Sugar Act and we need to support it to revamp the sugar industry. This Bill will also give a solution to the problem we have been facing in Mumias Sugar Company. It will allow the Sugar Development Fund to be utilised to allow sugar-cane farmers in Mumias sugar belt to plant the cash crop. It will allow the Sugar Development Levy to be channelled to Mumias Sugar Company to do service and maintenance so that farmers can deliver their crop to the sugar factory. With those few remarks, the solution of Mumias Sugar Company lies in this Bill. I thank you. I have taken exactly two minutes. My colleague will take one minute."
}