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{
    "id": 237272,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/237272/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 256,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Syongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 316,
        "legal_name": "Zaddock Madiri Syong'oh",
        "slug": "zaddock-syongoh"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Specific amendment proposals on some Acts of Parliament have been made. An amendment has been proposed in Section 60 of the Sugar Act, among others. Provision should have been made for the management of any revenue accruing from importation of sugar into this country. At another forum, the Government agreed that, in fact, if the difference between the import parity prices of imported sugar and the ex-factory prices of locally-produced sugar is multiplied by the total of 89,000 tonnes of table sugar and 110,000 tonnes of refined sugar, the results would provide a significant revenue base. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if this revenue is properly managed by the Kenya Sugar Board, we should be able to deal with the safeguard measures we negotiated with COMESA, deal with the problem of upgrading plant and equipment of our sugar mills and install core generation systems within our sugar mills in order to produce electric power, ethanol, organic manure as well as paper products, so that we do not rely on table sugar as the only final product of sugar processing, which is what has made our sugar industry uncompetitive. All countries that produce sugar competitively have adopted a cogent production system. That revenue should have been applied for that purpose. It should also have been possible to replace the current cane varieties, which give a maximum of 10 per cent sucrose, and which take 24 months to mature. Countries like Mauritius, India and Sudan use sugar-cane varieties that take between eight and 11 months to mature, and which have sucrose levels of up to 12 per cent. That is why those countries' sugar industries are more competitive than Kenya's sugar industry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have missed opportunities but I believe that there is still an opportunity for us to do something about our sugar industry in the remaining 14 months of this Parliament, so that we do not just rely on taxation but also rely on revenue generation from imported sugar."
}