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{
    "id": 319154,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/319154/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 389,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "So, as we liberalize the sector, we must make sure that those factories have adequate cane so that they do not employ and sack people arbitrarily. That way, we will ensure continuity and order in production. We will avoid the situation where farmers and sugar factories are forced to hire security firms or groups to take care of the cane. If one factory allows its cane to be harvested by another factory, it can go to the tribunal. But by the time it goes to the tribunal, it would have closed the factory. If your cane has been harvested unfairly, the factory that has done that will pay the farmers. But what happens if the factory whose cane has been taken had offered loans to the farmers? So, that is an area which the Ministry should address, especially the licensing of factories without adequate planning. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another point is the high yield of cane. Time is money. The research institutes should be funded properly so that they can develop a crop which can mature between 12 and 13 months. That way, farmers will have better returns on their investments. We all know that the country is a net importer of sugar. The Government should make deliberate efforts to reduce that. That can be done by increasing the area where sugar-cane is grown. It can also be done by planting high yield sugar-cane which takes less time to mature. That way, we will reduce the importation of sugar. The Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) should not be seen as an institution where people line up to get licences to import sugar. It should be seen as an authority which is supposed to bring efficiency to the farmer and the factories. It should develop more varieties of cane and help the research institutes to improve. It should give a big percentage of money to research institutes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we get sugar shortages every year. I would like to appeal to the Government to allow millers to import sugar, rather than the traders. What happens is that the traders wait every day. They do not do any business. Those people should invest their money in productive activities which can improve the economic standards of this nation. They should not wait when there is shortage of cane every year and then they apply for import licences. That is not how to grow an economy. That is not how to create employment in this nation. Those people are not patriotic Kenyans. They need to do economic activities which can improve the balance of payments and encourage exports. We do not want businessmen who sit and wait to import cane. Yes, they are traders, but they are not patriotic. That is the point I am raising here. As a nation, we need to improve our economy and efficiency. We cannot do it when some people sit and wait for cane shortage and then they use their political influence to get import licences. Who imports this sugar? Who are they? What do they do every day? So, that is an area where the Government must look into. It is a loophole. If the millers are able, they should be allowed the opportunity to import sugar. There is a history in this country. When there is sugar shortage, millers bring in their sugar and the factories do not sell their sugar. When they do not sell their sugar, they reduce the price. When they do that, the person who is greatly affected is the farmer. Meanwhile, these importers use foreign exchange to import sugar. When this happens, farmers get less money; the factory is not able to manage its activities and so, it causes a crisis. It is an area that the Government must look into, as far as I am concerned. It should find a way of discouraging importation of sugar. The KSB needs to be proactive in this area and spend more money to improve research, rather than spend time in office and serve people who are fighting to get import licences. As a nation, let us think of how we can reduce"
}