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{
    "id": 216573,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/216573/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 138,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 122,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
        "slug": "patrick-olweny"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to make my comments regarding these tax proposals by the Minister for Finance. Some good proposals have been made here, but I wish to start by disagreeing with the Minister on the issue of Sugar Development Levy on imported sugar. Many hon. Members are opposed to the issue of importing industrial sugar duty-free. Let me tell the Minister something that he does not know. When the Miwani Sugar Mills was running, it used to meet 80 per cent of industrial sugar requirement of this country. What the Government should have done is to revive the Miwani Sugar Mills, because its sugar refinery is still very new. It will meet the industrial sugar requirement of this country without any problem. In fact, it has room for expansion that can enable it to even produce refined sugar that can be exported to the East African region. On that note, I wish to request the Minister that, that taxation measure be amended. The Minister suggested something very good as regards plastic bags. I support the ban on thin plastic bags. The environment is highly polluted by these plastic bags that are all over the country. I also support the Minister for imposing a 120 per cent levy on plastic bags. But why can we not think of producing biodegradable plastic bags, as it is done in other countries? That will save us a lot. Furthermore, this country is producing a lot of bagasse from the sugar mills. That is June 28, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2151 enough to produce paper bags that will replace the plastic bags. So, it will be a better idea to encourage investors to use the bagasse that is lying unused around the sugar mills in this country, to manufacture paper, which could be used to produce bags. If we talk of producing more paper from our trees, we are still going to cause a problem to our environment, because we do not have enough trees and forests. So, that is my suggestion to the Minister. A number of hon. Members have made their contribution with regard to the second-hand vehicle spare parts. Let me inform the Minister that the accidents that we have on our roads are not caused by used vehicle spare parts or second-hand vehicles that are imported. They are caused by the poor condition of the roads and reckless driving. I do not understand how second-hand vehicle spare parts cause accidents. So, that is an issue which the Minister needs to reconsider, as has been suggested by my colleagues on this Floor. The issue of zero-rating Value Added Tax (VAT) on milk is good. I support the Minister on that. But year in, year out, we have requested the Minister for Finance to zero-rate VAT on sugar. Why has this request been ignored? He has proposed to zero-rate VAT on pyrethrum products which are used for killing insects that cause us problems here and there. But sugar is useful in every way. We have been requesting the Minister to zero-rate duty on sugar for the last four years, but it seems that, that is not a good idea to him. That suggests that the officers in the Ministry of Finance, are good enemies of the sugar industry. Lastly, I commend the Minister for thinking about the elderly and exempting their pension from taxation. That is a good idea. After all, these people have spent all their lives paying tax. Why should they pay tax on the last bit of their earnings? Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}