Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 349954,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/349954/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 701,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Khalwale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 170,
        "legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
        "slug": "bonny-khalwale"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to support this Motion and state two facts. The first one is that while operating on the national business environment, Mumias Sugar Company, Butali Sugar Company and West Kenya Sugar Company are a success. The second fact is that the factories that produce cheap sugar from Brazil and Sudan are all public factories. The problem with the sugar industry in this country is the question of management. It, therefore, means that, if our factories are well managed, if sugarcane farming is well managed and if the sugar industry itself is well managed, then it would be profitable. However, the Government is, this evening, requesting the National Assembly to allow it to privatize those firms, when other Governments - say Brazil and Sudan - have been able to make this business profitable. It is yet again an admission by this Government that it is not fit to be in charge and to run public affairs. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is my prayer that the forthcoming Government will rise up to address the issue of management of public affairs. It is important that as we support the Minister in this exercise, he remembers that this is not the first time we are going to privatize public companies. For example, what lessons have we learnt from the exercise that we did at Telkom Kenya? What lessons have we learnt from the privatization that took place at Kenya Railways? We should not just approach Parliament and attempt to placate the public that simply because we are privatizing, things will be well. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, behind every successful company, be it private or public, there is an animal called a farmer. As we allow the Minister to privatize, we are hoping that he is going to rise to the need to address the challenges that face our farmers. The Minister is on record - in the short time that he has been the Minister – to have given money to write off the debts of farmers that they owe to financial institutions; for example, Agricultural Finance Corporation of Kenya (AFC). Why has it been difficult for this Government to extend the same write-off of loans to sugarcane farmers and yet, they have done this very successfully to farmers in other sub-sectors like coffee? It leaves us wondering whether the Government is in a hurry to relieve the burden of farmers from certain regions of this country for whatever reasons, and leave the other regions wallowing in poverty. We must, as we address the challenges facing the farmers, also address the issue of the cost of transport. It will have absolutely no meaning if the companies become private and the same challenges that farmers are faced with - especially on the issue of exploitation on the aspect of transport - are not addressed. There is absolutely no reason why a private company like Butali can lift a tonne of cane for a distance of 40 kilometres at Kshs390 per tonne and yet, a public company like Nzoia Sugar Company lifts the same tonne of cane at Kshs800 for a distance of about five kilometers or even two kilometers. These are things which I hope the new senators for Bungoma, Siaya and Kisumu counties will link up with me – because, hopefully, I will become the Senator for Kakamega County - so that we can bring that exploitation of our farmers to an end."
}