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"id": 254996,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Oparanya",
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"legal_name": "Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, yesterday I commented on the sugar industry to which the President alluded in his Speech, that a Sessional Paper will be brought to this House to discuss the sugar industry. The sugar industry supports about 6 million people and employs 250 people directly and indirectly. That Sessional Paper that the Government intends to March 29, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 151 bring to this House is too late. It should have been brought to the House long time ago. However, farmers have suffered. Their income has been reducing, year in, year out. Farmers have been crying about outgrower companies which continue to exploit farmers and yet the Government is not doing anything about it. A Bill came to this House which was not discussed during the last Session. I hope that this Bill will be given priority during this Session. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to support the sugar-cane farmer. Sugarcane farmers are small-scale farmers. In my constituency, the majority of farmers own two acres of land. These farmers do not have access to credit facilities that they can use to develop their farms. During the last Budget, the Government announced that it was giving the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) Kshs2 million to lend to the farmers. I advised my farmers to go to the AFC for the loan. The conditions are so rigid that they do not favour small-scale farmers. In order to get a loan you need to have 20 acres. Which small-scale farmer has 20 acres of land? If money is given through any institution, the Government should make sure that this money is available to the small-scale farmers who are unable to raise money to develop their farms. The Government owns most of the sugar companies in this country. The Government is a major shareholder in Nzoia Sugar Company, Muhoroni Sugar Company and Chemelil Sugar Company. It also has some shares in Mumias Sugar Company. Who is supposed to develop the sugar industry? There must be a shareholder interest, a supplier interest and a customer interest. Here is a Government which has invested in these companies, but it is still exploiting the farmer. The Government says that it will bring a Sessional Paper into the House and yet it owns these companies. As a shareholder, the Government must make sure that these factories are equipped with modern machinery so that they are able to increase their output in order to compete effectively come 29th February, 2008, when the COMESA safeguard measures end. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is a lot of importation of sugar in this country. The Government is supposed to expand the factories in order to ensure that we have adequate sugar in this country, but that is not being done so that the same Government can benefit from the importation of sugar. We have been importing sugar into this country for the last 30 years. We have been importing 200,000 tonnes of sugar for the last ten years. Have we not increased our production so that we can stop importing the 200,000 tonnes? Come next year, the world market prices for sugar will go up. Therefore, those who have been benefiting from the sugar industry might think that they will use that money for election campaigns, but they will be shocked because it will not be there. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mumias Sugar Company which is located within my district pays Kshs2.7 million to the Treasury. None of this money is ever utilised in developing the district. This money is paid averagely every year, but it is not benefiting farmers. Come the Sessional Paper and the Sugar Bill, I am suggesting that any money for Sugar Development Levy must be retained at the factory level so that it is used to develop the farmers and infrastructure in that area. This money should be used to ensure that there is development within the factory area. Sugar Development Levy has been misused. During his Speech, the President said that those people who have stolen money will be charged. I hope that those people who have stolen sugar money will also be charged. According to the PIC Report of last year, Kshs650 million was misused on research. To date, those people who misused this Kshs650 million have not been arrested. They are still walking free. This case has made our people poor. I hope that the people involved will be brought to book. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President mentioned that 5.5 million people are now mobile phone users. The charges for Safaricom and Celtel are quite high. This is one of the countries with the highest charges on mobile telephone use. Telephone bills are over-taxed. You will find that there is 16 per cent VAT and 10 per cent Excise Duty. We were told that we would 152 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 29, 2006 be an industrialised nation by 2020. How can we industrialise if communication is quite expensive? We need to look at that issue. If you go around the world, you will find that Kenya is one of the countries where using a mobile phone is very expensive. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President mentioned in his Speech that many investors have come into this country. But, surprisingly, he did not mention the companies that came back to Kenya or how many local people they have employed. What I know is that Asian companies are thriving here because they have connections with the Government. They employ Indians without proper qualifications and they are taken as expatriates. We have local people who can do those jobs even better. We want figures to confirm such statements. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, unemployment is a critical issue. The Government cannot just mention it in passing. We need proper planning to ensure that our people are employed. It is a shame that, after 43 years, our people are still going hungry. We are told that there are strategic reserves. Every year, we are told that there are strategic reserves to last two years. We are now begging for donor funds and support because we do not have enough food to feed our people! Where did those strategic reserves go? We have a lot of money which is set aside every year for food. With those few remarks, I reluctantly support the Motion."
}