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{
    "id": 1283588,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1283588/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 303,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nandi County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Cynthia Muge",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. First, I welcome and appreciate the Nandi County sugar farmers who are in this House today to observe the proceedings. What a beautiful coincidence when the farmers are here. I have a personal interest in the Privatisation Bill that is on the Floor of the House today because of the sugar farmers. Every time the Privatisation Bill is spoken about, and issues of privatisation come up, I think about the sugar farmers who take their produce to Chemelil Sugar Factory and many other sugar companies in this country. The introduction of this Bill is timely, and it should have been done before. It has now given us an opportunity to give privatisation a legal footing so that we can explore it and have efficiency in service delivery in several departments in this country. When we speak about privatisation, we do not only talk about sugar companies but also the Sunset Hotels of this country. As you have noted, this is one Bill with no factions because this country has government entities that are no longer making a profit. They are not able to run themselves. This is a Bill that cuts across in terms of ensuring that we have better-run government entities so that we have income from the same. I remember at times when we would go to Sunset Hotel, there would be very nice fish there, and the next month you went, you found it closed down because there was nothing with which to run the facility. This Bill is timely. I want to speak to the Bill. If you have looked at it, it allows parliamentarians to ratify it. After the approvals or recommendations have been made, they must and should come to this House as put out in the Bill for ratification. This gives an opportunity for the representatives of the counties, constituencies, and people to add their voices. I want to speak passionately about Chemelil Sugar Factory as an example of those entities that should be privatised immediately. When I was growing up in the hills of Nandi, Chemelil Sugar was a lion then. It was an entity that used to sponsor serious talent games such as football and volleyball. They used to fund them. There was a school called Chemelil Sugar Academy. It was an icon that was spoken about by each and everyone in this country. As we talk, even the corporate social responsibility (CSR) that we used to get from Chemelil Sugar Factory—the health facilities that they used to build, the roads that they used to repair, employment opportunities and issues to deal with sugar farmers who used to deliver their cane to that place—ceased. It reached a point in 2016 where a farmer cried and said he had delivered his cane in 2014 to Chemelil Sugar, and until 2016, he had not been paid, and his children were at home. This is one of the entities that must be privatised. We thank the drafters of this Bill for giving this country an opportunity to put these entities into private hands so that we have efficiency and stop them from demanding too much in the form of Exchequer releases and so that they make profits. Not everything that happens goes without negative impact. If you have gone through the Bill, you will see it is elaborate. The Bill expressly provides how to handle negative impact. Negative impact can be because of monopoly and the high prices that can sometimes come from privatising most entities. Hon. Temporary Speaker, an Hon. Member said earlier that the government is a very bad business entity. They normally say that everything someone touches turns to gold. However, it is not the same with the government. Everything the government touches in terms of business becomes something else, not gold. It becomes disastrous. Actually, it gives losses to this country. 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."
}