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{
    "id": 1398606,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398606/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 256,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity to debate on the Bill that is on the Floor of this House. At the very onset, this is a Bill that should have happened yesterday or many years ago. It is one day too late, but thank God it is finally here. This is because if there is a sector that has seen confusion, cartels, where farmers have been frustrated by brokers and the market has been manipulated, it is the sugar sector. Unfortunately, those who tend to suffer most are the peasant farmers and many stakeholders, who have held the sugar industry, in spite of the sugar sector in Kenya being in tears. If there is one sector that has been unpredictable and subject to very - I do not even know what to call the kind of regulation and legislation that it has encountered - is the sugar sector. You will find that the doors of sugar from other region, for example, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), have been opened, sometimes even through the backdoor, just manipulating the market to enable certain individuals to earn from the sugar. That is why the Sugar Bill, (National Assembly Bills No.34 of 2022) is a very good idea that we were waiting to happen. I congratulate the promoter and the proposer of this Bill, our Senator, having found it fit to bring out legislation that is very well- thought-out and comprehensive. Clause 4 of this Bill has finally introduced the concept of facilitating a board that is supposed to facilitate equitable access to benefits and resources of the industry. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that means the Bill appreciates the fact that there has been inequity in the sugar sector in Kenya. We have watched on television instances where farmers in the western region have been left with cane or have taken cane to factories or mills that have collapsed and those farmers have not been paid. I hope this Bill can introduce a clause to see how such farmers could be indemnified; especially, those farmers who were known to have invested so much and because of distortion in the sugar market, they have suffered loses. Some might never even be able to recover from the loss or collapse that they have seen. 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."
}