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{
    "id": 349957,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/349957/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 704,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is the issue of the benefit to the farmer. Yes, hon. Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o and hon. Wetangula have talked very persuasively about the issue of coal generation and I support them. But who earns from the generation of that coal? We would like a payment formula to the farmers to be such that it captures the coal generation. We would like to see a farmer paid from the tonnes he delivers at the sugar company but, inside that payment, it be factored that this company is going into coal generation, electricity, furniture, syrups for medicine-making and so on. There is an issue with regard to Sugar Development Levy. This is an area whereby the money is collected and obviously the more successful factories like the one we have in Kakamega County, are the ones that contribute the lion’s share. Unfortunately, because of poor management, when the SDL is ploughed back in order to develop cane, what then happens is that factories that produced little money end up being the major beneficiaries of SDL. I look forward to a situation under the next Government where SDL will be given back for the development of cane on a pro-rata basis. Those who give more should also get more when it comes to benefiting from the collective commonwealth of the fund. Finally, I would like to talk about the issue of the cost of farming. I am hoping that the new Government will ensure that the cost of farm inputs is brought down. The easiest one is the issue of fertilizer. One hopes that the next Government will have the wisdom of creating, once and for all, a fertilizer company so that we do not have to fleece our farmers just because the fertilizer comes from outside the country. I want to thank God that the issue which has been vexing farmers in all sectors, the inputs by way of the cost of ploughing, is now coming down because of the discovery of oil at the Ngamia I in the upper part of the country and the other wealth that we have discovered. I am hoping that the people who will take over are not waiting, again, to perpetuate corruption that we have witnessed in this country, when we are exploiting that resource. Hon. Minister, I want to end by thanking you because during your tenure, we have not seen computer errors. We have seen you come here with a Budget and we are satisfied. Sometimes, we are left wondering: “Is it because of the computer errors that, today, we see presidential candidates flying the skies with 20 to 50 helicopters at the same time?” Is it that they made a windfall? These are things that we shall be asking. I am hoping the Public Accounts Committee in the lower and upper Houses will rise to this matter so that we can pin down those people. People cannot, all of a sudden, be crisscrossing the country without telling us where those resources have come from. We are going to ask questions on behalf of the children."
}