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{
"id": 319163,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/319163/?format=api",
"text_counter": 398,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
"speaker_title": "44 Tuesday, 12th September, 2012 The Assistant Minister for Education",
"speaker": {
"id": 122,
"legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
"slug": "patrick-olweny"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to support this Bill because it is wonderful. What the Minister has put in the Bill are the things that we have been fighting for. So, I congratulate the Minister for bringing these things to the Floor of the House so that we can pass them and make changes in the sugar industry. The Minister has indicated that the Sugar Development Fund will now have a board of trustees. I hope that the intention is to make this fund easily accessible to those who need it like the farmers, the transporters and other key players in the sugar industry, who need loan facilities to help them develop the sugar industry. The Minister has also indicated that the Kenya Sugar Cane Growers Association (KESGA) will be removed. There are major loans that farmers have taken, and even have contributed towards this association. So, we do not understand what KESGA is doing. We have the Kenya Sugar Board which helps in managing the sector. We also have outgrowers companies and farmers societies which help farmers in selling their cane to the millers. They also sell their cane through those institutions. So, what is KESGA doing? This is simply a political body among the farmers. It has politicized the sugar industry unnecessarily. Therefore, I congratulate the Minister for removing it, but what I do not understand, and which she has brought in, is the farmers apex body. I hope it is not going to charge farmers. I hope we are not going to have another election because there are too many elections in the sugar industry. There are too many elections among the farmers; they do elections for their societies, outgrower companies, the sugar board and KESGA. At the end of the day, it was politics. I hope this body is not going to be another burden to the farmers in terms of contributions and deductions from the farmers, and also unnecessary elections. In fact, I really do not think we need it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, privatisation has taken too long in the sugar industry. These are companies owned by the Government. It has taken too long to privatise them. I am happy that the other day the Minister for Finance told us here, privately, that he has solved some of the problems that were attached to the issue. With elections around the corner, I do not think it is the right time to privatise. It should have been done a year ago, but it is important to privatise these companies. Miwani Sugar Company has been under privatisation for too long. I know that it is moribund, but we need someone to invest, open it up and start operating it. Muhoroni Sugar Company has been under receivership for ten years and the receiver manager there is making money. I thought that the receiver manager should have used the profits that they are making to clear some of the debts. So, something needs to be done by the Government because they have been in receivership for too long. In fact, the farmers are concerned about the prolonged receivership of Muhoroni Sugar Company. So, something has to be done so that the receivership is removed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am happy, again, that the Minister has removed zoning. Kenya is a liberalized economy. So, why should we tie farmers to a miller whom they do not want to sell cane to? Why should we tie a farmer to a miller who is paying less than another miller who is ten miles away? Let the farmers sell their cane to whoever they want. They can even sell to those who do jaggeries. So, tying the farmers to some mean millers has been very bad. It has really done a lot of harm to the farmers, yet they are the poorest in the sugar industry."
}