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{
    "id": 1279518,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1279518/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 575,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Navakholo, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "but she understands farming. All she needs to be told is the kind of diseases her cane is experiencing. If we have cane inspectors, we will yield better than what we are getting today. Also suggested in the proposal is the creation of the Sugar Development Fund. This levy, donor funds, and money provided by National Assembly and county assemblies for the fund shall anchor in the Sugar Development Fund. We want to establish it independent of what is happening in the current position. The Sugar Development Levy we propose will comprise 1 per cent of domestic sugar and 10 per cent of the Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) on imported sugar. The Sugar Development Levy will be distributed as follows: I propose that we do 15 per cent of income or price stabilization to sugar growers; 20 per cent to the board; 20 per cent to the institute, and 45 per cent for infrastructure development in the sugar sector on a pro-rata basis. The public, millers, and various stakeholders came up with a reorganization of this position when the Bill went for public participation. That is in the report of the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock. I invite all my colleagues to look at the distribution and how the public felt it should be done. We will look at it when we get to the Committee of the whole House. This was the initial proposal that I had. The public and the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock have brought a different position, which I have no issue with as long as Members will have to agree. Part 7 seeks to establish the Sugar Arbitration Tribunal to deal with disputes arising among growers, millers, and other players. As with any other industry, there are prone to arise disputes. We are suggesting that we have a tribunal. According to Clause 54, the Bill seeks to have farmers holding 51 per cent of the shareholding of all privatised sugar factories and 51 per cent representation in the Board of Directors of a privatised company. The Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock has a different view. This is the proposal as per the Bill. Part 8 proposes the absorption of staff. In the exit clause, we look at the absorption of staff of the sugar directorate employed by the Agriculture and Food Authority before the commencement of this Act. They shall become board staff on their current improved terms and conditions of service. We request to move staff currently housed under the Directorate of Sugar to the new organization once this Bill goes through and is made an Act. The First Schedule delineates sugar catchment areas that will guide milling. You often heard millers and persons of interest in cane production talking about zoning everywhere. My Bill is not proposing zoning. No. What is zoning? Zoning meant associating a farmer with one miller; if you belong to Mumias Zone, you cannot take the cane to Nzoia Sugar Factory. If you belong to Butali Zone, you cannot take the cane to the West Kenya Sugar Factory. The Bill is proposing a region. We are saying let us allow competition. One region could have three or four mills so that you can choose where you want to take your cane. We must have a solution in terms of reorganisation of any resources we will get from the National Government. If it comes from the Strategic Business Leader (SBL), how do we take it to the farmer? It must be in a structured way. This means that we cannot expand and say that you will go all over the whole world, to the Coast, for example, to get sugarcane and bring it so that it can be crashed in Western Kenya, or go as far as Sony to get sugarcane to come and crash it in Nzoia. In the Rift Valley Region, we propose that Kericho, Nandi, and Uasin Gishu belong to that. This suggestion was made through the Committee when they went to the people. The Bill proposes that the Upper Western gets all their sugarcane milled in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia and within that region. Lower Western Region should get a mill in Busia, Kakamega, Siaya, and Vihiga; the South Region is Homa Bay, Kisumu, Migori, and Narok; and the Coast Region is Kwale, Lamu, and Tana River. The second Schedule outlines the provisions for the conduct of business and the affairs of the Board. The third Schedule gives the guidelines of the Agreements between parties in the 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."
}