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{
    "id": 1355317,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1355317/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 91,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to support this Bill. The JLAC committee, led by Hon. Murugara, has done a good job. The Conflict of Interest Bill is trying to address the issue of Government officers using their positions to their advantage. It is noteworthy that many of the problems that this country is facing arise from the fact that Government officials have a lot of interest in supplying goods and services to Government institutions. In order to address this problem, we must ensure that State officials who have particular interest in particular organisations are not allowed to participate in tendering for supply of goods and services to those organisations. There has been the issue of milk in respect of which certain regulations were brought to this House in 2021 and 2020. The issue then was that the regulations were tailored to benefit certain sectors of the economy where the influencers of those particular regulations had a lot of interest. Even with regard to the laws that regulate the sugar and coffee sectors, the regulations are normally tailored to favour certain benefactors who have a lot of interest in those areas of the economy. They are key players, especially in export and manufacture of sugar products. The same applies to the coffee sector, when you look at brokers, farmers and millers. When a law is being developed and an institution or officer has interest in it, that interest should be stopped. If such interests are not stopped, then that particular law will not 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."
}