HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1398597,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398597/?format=api",
"text_counter": 247,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 170,
"legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
"slug": "bonny-khalwale"
},
"content": "The issue of zoning should also be polished further, so that the issue of weighbridges can be addressed. We must make it an offence punishable under this Bill for any miller to set up a weighbridge in a zone that the miller does not belong to. If you go to Western, you will find wide load, long trucks that can carry harvested cane from end to end. We want to polish this law. Mr. Chairman, I appeal to you, so that should this miller choose to haul cane for long distances, then they should incur a penalty as they cross from county to another. The issue of poaching of cane from foreign zones is the reason I would like to support this Bill. It says that no single miller should enjoy monopoly, where his investment is more than 30 per cent of the total cane harvested in this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is because of the greed of setting up many factories that you find that these people end up poaching cane from end to end. For purposes of enforcement, the police under this Bill, must be authorized to arrest poachers of cane. Those of us who come from the heartland of cane production, for example, Kakamega, Kisumu and Bungoma Counties know what we are talking about. For the longest time Busia has been part of Kakamega County. When I say it, I do so as a big brother. This law has to speak to harvesting of cane. The reason you heard the Senator of Vihiga speak to the issue of the temporary closure of factories that was there last year is because these poachers were engaged in harvesting of premature cane. Under this Bill, we must make sure that harvesting of premature cane is criminalized. In this Bill, we are speaking to cane pricing. The proposal in this Bill states that it should be done every three months. You cannot do that. Pricing must be reviewed every month because sugar fluctuates on the national, regional, continental, in Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the international market. Reviews should be regular, so that we do not lose out. Personally, I know what I am talking about. I am a farmer in Malinya. I grow cane in Kakamega County and supply it to Butali Sugar Mills and West Kenya Sugar Company. It is annoying when one week you supply and because there are no reviews, the following week you see cane is attracting better price. I plead with the Chairperson of the Committee to consider reducing it from three months to one month. There is an animal in this country under the total and absolute control of the National Treasury called the importation of sugar. Whereas it is a necessity, on the other hand, it is killing our farmers. How? The National Treasury declares an imaginary hypothetical sugar deficit. Cheap imported sugar hits the market and denies local farmers an opportunity to enjoy a better price. I encourage the Committee, at Third Reading, to discourage this reckless behaviour. We must tie down the National Treasury in this manner; that anytime a declaration of a deficit is made and the market for imported sugar is opened, the local farmers must also enjoy and benefit from importation. How? If 100 per cent of imported sugar can be allowed into the market and 50 per cent is allowed for private players, the remaining 50 per cent is given to the Outgrower institutions – Mumias Outgrowers Company (MOCO), Butali Outgrowers Company (BOCO), West Kenya Outgrower Company, Nzoia Outgrower Company and Sony Sugar Outgrower Company. The bottom line is that the benefit of importation will be enjoyed by the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}