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{
    "id": 1284906,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1284906/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 255,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung'wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " In supporting this Report, I may begin by informing Hon. Nabulindo, and I am sure other Members from the larger Mumias area in Western Kenya that Mumias is 20 per cent owned by the Government and 80 per cent by private investors. They have very good points that Mumias also needs to be rescued. I want to assure him that there are measures to ensure that Mumias is also rescued from the abyss that has bedeviled the sugar sector. That way, Hon. Nabulindo will ensure that even the people of the greater Mumias area benefit from the sugar sector reforms and that money gets back to people's pockets in Mumias and the other regions in the sugar-belt. Hon. Speaker, part of the proposals in this Memorandum by the National Treasury is the write-off of debts, taxes, and penalties owed to the Government of Kenya and the KRA by these sugar companies. Even as we seek to commercialise and privatise them, no private investor will want to put their money in a company or State entity bedeviled with many liabilities, including tax liabilities. I support that measure to write off the debts owed to the Government of Kenya to make them more attractive to investors who bring in their private capital and expertise and make these sugar companies more efficient and, therefore, guaranteeing farmers more money into their pockets. I have also heard concerns about the period, and I think Hon. (Dr) Makali raised the issue of 30 years. It is also good to appreciate that if you are to lease land and assets, for a private investor to be able to have a bankable proposal, then the period of the lease should be a period during which the investor will be able to recoup their capital investment and make a profit out of the investment. Therefore, I want to encourage those concerned to appreciate that we are bringing in private capital. A private investor will not want to get into a lease agreement of five years. Even people leasing land today to develop petrol stations and all that are not going for a lease of five years but are looking for 20 to 25 years. Therefore, I want to encourage those Members who are concerned that all those issues are issues that the National Treasury has looked into. Finally, on Mumias Sugar Company, I have heard even Hon. Salasya has now considered that truly mambo ni matatu and the cartels that had taken over Mumias Sugar, enjoyed State protection because of state capture. We must today tell them loudly that protection is gone and it shall never come back. Therefore, they must now socialise themselves to the mambo ni matatu gospel and get used to it. That includes their sponsors because if they were facilitated through state capture, they had people with access to political power who protected them. Even as Hon. Nabulindo speaks about Mumias, I know the Wanga people are very keen on Mumias because they surround that area of Mumias. I also know his party leader because he is a Member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) who owes Mumias Sugar Company close to the above Ksh300 million shillings. I want to ask Hon. Nabulindo to ask the party leader of ODM to now pay up the money he owes Mumias Sugar Company so that the company also benefits from this commercialisation."
}