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{
    "id": 1157549,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1157549/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 297,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kasanga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13185,
        "legal_name": "Sylvia Mueni Kasanga",
        "slug": "sylvia-mueni-kasanga"
    },
    "content": "or to both. That is a good thing. I wish there would be a stiffer sentence on the imprisonment. We have seen what happens when people play games with our sugar and deny our local market, we see what that does to our people. It denies them their own livelihoods. I would have preferred a stiffer sentence. Persons who contravene should be asked to pay the fine and still go to jail for a considerable period so that we can deter any games that somebody may want to play when it comes to the sugar industry. The industrial sugar production has also been given a lot of clear mandates. Under Part IV, there is establishment of the research institute. Always a positive. Research is a big deal. Research and development are a must when it comes to food production, agriculture or any industry. There has to be efforts towards research and development. These need to be funded and need to be deliberate. Times are changing. We are also looking at how to upscale our farmers as well, how to move from small scale production into large scale production. What are the crops that should be grown in this day and age? What kind of fertilisers should our farmers be using in the face of climate change? All those factors require constant research and development as we move on to grow this for our own market. That has been put in here with the deliberate effort towards research and development. Quite a bit of detail has been given by the Bill towards the establishment of this institute. I have seen the functions and the management of the institute are described and all the other functions are well articulated. Part V is talking about the appointment of crop inspectors. This is quite comprehensive because these are qualified persons to be crop inspectors for the purposes of this particular Act which is the Sugar Bill. It again looks like what they are looking at is somebody who understands the crop; the research work of the crop and is, therefore, appointed into the institute to do the work. That is interesting and very comprehensive. That Section also highlights the financial and other miscellaneous provisions of the Bill. Part VII of the Bill highlights the arbitration tribunal. Under The establishment of the sugar arbitration tribunal. That is comprehensive and good. Like I had said earlier, any efforts towards putting, trenching and mainstreaming, dispute resolution is always a good thing. We need to be careful on whether we want formal arbitrations or want mediation. Those are some of the things that we can consider as we look into the detail of the Bill. We can look at the easier methods of dispute resolution as we understand them so that we can resolve issues faster or we give several options of dispute resolution mechanisms in which they can be employed depending on the complexity of the matter at hand. All in all, it is a good attempt to mainstream dispute resolution. Like is said earlier, we do not rush to court all the time when we know how long court cases take to resolve because of the backlog of our courts. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I second this Bill, I appreciate the depth in which the issues have been put under this Bill and to appreciate that this is our country and sugar has been a critical part of the livelihood of a good section of our citizens of this country. It must be given the support it requires. Over above giving the sugar industry support, we have to protect it as a resource of our own. We never meet the demand for sugar in the country. Therefore, there is need to protect what is produced as our own in"
}