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{
    "id": 252950,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/252950/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 186,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we from the sugar growing areas are not going to lie still and just look while the sugar industry is being destroyed by \"sharks\" and corrupt individuals. So, we are going to go out of our way even to go and squat in the Minister's and Permanent Secretary's offices to make sure that the sugar industry is turned around because it is the future of Kenya. So, this Motion that hon. Oparanya has brought here today is very important and this House must support it to make sure that this country's sugar industry turns around. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the sugar industry cannot afford to depend on rain for agricultural production. Sudan here is beating us in sugar production because it is irrigating. In Brazil where there is a lot of rain, they still irrigate. In Cuba there is irrigation. In every country where sugar farming has been successful, it is by irrigation and not by depending on rains from heaven. Yes, the rains will come but at times, when God is on strike, it does not come. So, why do we not wait for God to go on strike and then we turn around because God is also fed up with us? He says: \"I give you a lot of rain but when it comes there are floods and you do not control them. When it is not there you cry and yet you have the knowledge and equipment to have irrigation\". If 534 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 19, 2006 you do not have irrigation then God keeps his rain and then you starve. The Minister for Agriculture knows this very well! Irrigation is very easy to manage. If we apply the right knowledge and technology, it will work. If you visit Chemelil Sugar Factory (CSF), for example, in the areas where they are doing irrigation, sugar-cane is maturing after 11 months. Productivity is also very high. Why can we not learn from the example of Mumias Sugar Company (MSC) and CSF, and apply this across the board? If you visit Miwani Sugar Mills (MSM), you will realise that this area has the most fertile land for sugar-cane production, and it also experiences very high rainfall. When the Nucleus Estate was irrigated by the Indocha Family, that Estate used to produce enough sugar for consumption in Kenya during the colonial times. We have been Independent for over 40 years and what the Indochas used to do 40 years ago, we cannot do today. What is wrong with us? The only thing that is wrong with us is that we want cheap things quickly; cheap things only come through corruption. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that if the Government today puts its foot down, we will have enough money to sustain operations in this country. We do not need the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support us. We have Kenyans producing sugar, selling it and taxes being collected by the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB). Unfortunately, at the end of the day, what is collected never gets ploughed back to the farmers. This is the cry of Kenyans. We have our resources, but rather than use them for our development, we leave them to be used by a few sharks who connect themselves with the Anglo Leasers and take the money out of the country. When we come here to speak about them, they say it is us who are telling lies, and they are telling the truth. I would like to urge the Minister to put his foot down. I know he is a short man, but he can put his foot down and stand tall to ensure that the sugar industry is turned around."
}