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{
    "id": 1282212,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1282212/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 258,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Malava, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Malulu Injendi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I want to, first of all, thank Hon. Wangwe for reviving this Bill, which lapsed with the 12th Parliament. I hope this time round, after our deliberations, the Senate will fast-track it so that it is assented to an Act of Parliament. I appreciate this Bill for three important proposals contained therein: Firstly, re-creation of the Kenya Sugar Board; secondly, introduction of the Sugar Levy Fund; and thirdly, establishment of Sugar Research Foundation. When I was elected to Parliament in 2013 on a platform of development in my Malava Constituency, most road and bridge works there were funded by the Sugar Levy Fund that was committed by sugar factories. However, since the disbandment of the Kenya Sugar Board, that arrangement died. Consequently, I became a victim of blame game because I was not doing what was being done before the disbandment of the Kenya Sugar Board. Therefore, I was said to be lousy. I appreciate the proposal to re-create the Kenya Sugar Board mostly because Members of Parliament from the Western Kenya region, including myself and Hon. Wangwe, among others, have always been accused of not effectively representing farmers on most of the issues that affect them. Re-creation of the Kenya Sugar Board will give sugarcane farmers a platform on which to present their issues of interest through the directors who will constitute the Board. Hon. Temporary Speaker, as you are aware, our sugarcane takes about two years to mature. At one time I visited Sudan, where I found that their sugarcane takes about nine months to mature for harvest. The establishment of the proposed Sugar Research Foundation will facilitate persons to carry out research so that we start planting sugarcane varieties that will take eight or nine months to mature. This will shorten the cane production time and help improve the income of farmers as opposed to farmers waiting for two years for their crop to mature. I thank Members for their positive contributions. I ask Parliament to be considerate of sugarcane farmers. Currently, they are suffering. Factories in this country’s sugarcane belt have been closed because we have not had clear policies on sugarcane growing."
}