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"id": 240437,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/240437/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kajwang",
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"speaker": {
"id": 164,
"legal_name": "Gerald Otieno Kajwang",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are issues here which are very difficult to understand unless you have the background to what is before us. What is before us is a story of sweet sugar. Sugar is sweet. There is a lot of war because sugar is sweet. A Board has been given powers to regulate the importation of sugar because we need to import some sugar. I do not have the correct figures, but I think we need to import about 200,000 tonnes of table and industrial sugar. There is a general agreement within COMESA that we import that sugar, as much as possible, from the COMESA region, if we can get it from the region. If you import that sugar from the COMESA region, you do not pay duty for it. There is an exemption of duty because when we trade with countries in the COMESA region, they do not charge duty on sugar imported from the region. This 200,000 tonnes of sugar is very attractive business. It is business in terms of billions of shillings. If you import that sugar and you are lucky that it passes through the port without paying duty for it, then you become a billionaire. That is where the war is. The war is not about the Minister making certain rules and overriding the Board, the Board overriding the Minister or people chasing each other between the Minister and the Board. The war here is about billions of shillings. The question here is: Who will get the billions amongst the possible importers and what amounts to regulation? I was involved in this thing before, but it did not sound good to me that we can now say that so and so can get a licence to import 20,000 tonnes and so and so can get a licence to import 5,000 tonnes of sugar. Getting a licence to import 20,000 tonnes, 10,000 tonnes or 5,000 tonnes, means millions of shillings. There is an attempt to give out kick-backs and this is a hot-bed of corruption. That is the bottom line and the beginning of the war that we are now seeing here. I remember that I castigated the Minister whenever I got an opportunity one or two years ago. I used to tell him that he is not supposed to be giving out licences because when he starts giving licences to some people and depriving others because some people qualify and not others, whatever qualification means, he will be creating possibilities for corruption. I remember the Minister was even taken to court for giving those licences. I remember there was a war for about half a year or so of sugar being stopped at the port. There was not enough sugar in the country and the prices of sugar almost doubled. We had a big war with the Minister. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister did the right thing later on after listening to the industry. The COMESA region was telling us to liberalise and let whoever can import sugar import. If your ship reaches the Port of Mombasa first and you clear 200,000 tonnes of sugar, too good for you. If others do not import anything, shauri yao . That is the meaning of a liberalised economy. The issue of licensing different people to import, for example, 5,000 tonnes, 10,000 tonnes or 20,000 tonnes, is, as I said, the beginning of corruption. July 27, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2451 The Minister did the right thing by directing that there should be liberalisation in the market, so that we stop giving licences to preferred people or denying licences to people who are not preferred. This will make sure that there is no corruption. If you make your billion, make it! If you cannot make the billion because your ship did not arrive quickly, that is too bad for you. Now, the Minister is being attacked because of that. That is the entire focus of Part Two of this Report. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when we want to import maize into this country because there is famine, there is always a problem of who will import the maize. The question is: Do you have the money, the ability and when did you import last? This means that the people who are favoured import the maize. We know the people who have been importing maize and who have been making billions of shillings out of the relief efforts in this country. We have been asking the Government to liberalise the market and let whoever can import the maize import it at the most appropriate market price. Whoever can land his maize quickly, he should do it. The issue of licensing and choosing the appropriate importer who has the storage capacity and all these other things which are inside results to a hogwash, kick-back-driven style of dishing out licences. The Minister is being fought because of that. We told him that we cannot accept this control of the market because it is bringing corruption. He listened to the politics, the country, the prices of sugar and the war and said: \"Open it up\"! That is why the Minister is being crucified. That is why we are saying that Part Two of this Report must be struck off. We cannot have people who support things which do not benefit the country. This country was liberalised a long time ago. We are not going to bring legislation and control just because some people must make money from some COMESA sugar, because there is a duty-free facility. We cannot allow that. It would be very bad for this Parliament to support a thing like this. We shall be taking the country backwards to where we came from. I propose that whatever we do with this Report, Part Two must be expunged."
}