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{
    "id": 122495,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/122495/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 341,
    "type": "other",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "not quite right with the Pan African Paper Mills in Webuye. First of all, the majority shareholders, who have actually absconded from this country, have run this company in such a way that it actually shows that there was some criminal intent. I think it will be very important for the Ministry of Industrialization to ensure that these majority shareholders answer for the criminal acts they have committed at this factory. In the process, it has led to a lot of misery for the people who relied on Pan African Paper Mills for their livelihood. Currently, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as the Pan African Paper Mills remains idle. It is dilapidating and I am sure the Minister, who is also very well qualified in Chemistry, knows the corrosive effects of what is going on there in the sense that if we take very long to revive this factory, by the time we revive it, it might be so corroded that we might need so much money to be able to rehabilitate the machinery. As the factory stands idle, there is also vandalism and cannibalism going on. This is a fact; whether it is stated clearly or whether somebody has been trying to hide it – but the fact is that there is a lot of vandalism and cannibalism going on! The longer we take to revive this factory, we might require more money than we actually do at the moment. From the report of the Implementation Committee, if the delay is not with the Minister and his officers; if the delay lies elsewhere, then can we move with haste to remove that delay? If it is the Cabinet, then something needs to be done so that we get the Cabinet to approve this very quickly. Otherwise, the Cabinet has always amazed me; it moves in mysterious ways its wonders not to perform! So, I hope this time, the Cabinet will actually perform and get this factory moving. The main issue is to get an official receiver there and not these other funny scavengers there. I call them “scavengers” who came to scavenge for whatever paper was left. Those are scavengers and they can actually end up damaging the machinery. We should get the official receiver there to do the proper job. Finally, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would wish the Minister to be very awake to the issue that there are some paper merchants in this country in whose interests it would be to ensure that Pan African Paper Mills does not open or it does not open very soon because in the process, they are importing paper and putting on a very high markup and increasing the price of paper in this country and pretending that because Pan African Paper Mills is not functioning, so we increase the price of paper. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would wish that the Minister is very awake to this fact; that they do not succumb to the vested interests of these unfair merchants of poverty who would like to consign Webuye and the whole of Western Province to the worst poverty that it is facing. We are all aware that even when Pan African Paper Mills was working, Western Province still had a very high poverty index. You can imagine what it is now without Pan African Paper Mills! So, I would like to plead with the Ministry that, please, move with haste; the lives and future of very many people depend on this factory. With those few remarks, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
}