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{
    "id": 240507,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/240507/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 268,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Osundwa",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 298,
        "legal_name": "Wycliffe William Osundwa",
        "slug": "wycliffe-osundwa"
    },
    "content": "I am not ashamed to say that. Sugar is a very emotive subject because six million Kenyans depend on sugar. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister for Finance, in his Budget Speech, introduced the Sugar Development Levy. This, he said, only growers will pay and not consumers. That is a sure way of killing the sugar industry because it is going to allow sugar imports to come in duty-free July 27, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2459 while the farmers shoulder the heavy burden of the Sugar Development Levy. There are so many levies in this country. We have the Rural Electrification Levy, the Catering Levy, the Petroleum Levy, the Standards Levy and so on. All these levies are paid by consumers. So, I do not understand why the Government of hon. Kibaki wants to punish sugar-cane farmers in this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we want the Minister for Agriculture to tell us why he did not consult Kenya Sugar Board as is stipulated in the Sugar Act before he gazetted this legal notice, making the trade free for all. In fact, I want to inform the House that the 89,000 tonnes, which was a shortfall, was brought in by one importer whom the Minister for Agriculture knows. I do not know what he promised to give this Minister. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, 30 per cent of the 89,000 tonnes were supposed to be imported into the country by the sugar industry."
}