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{
    "id": 521120,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/521120/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 174,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bunyasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "The worst group to give it to is the county governments. What capacity do they have to supervise that commercial production? I thought that the proposal that was there was: “Yes, give some shares to farmers but educate them on what it is they holding in their hands and accepting that if it is on the Stock Exchange like Mumias was, one day it will be up and the next day it will be down.” They can see their paper gains and paper losses. As it turned out, overall, it was losses as it were. Why do you want to enslave our farmers in sugar-cane production when they could have other opportunities if they wanted to move out? Many farmers in areas like Mumias - under the Mumias zone - are walking out. They are walking to dairy or oil crops. They are doing other things. Let us not enslave them there. What we should do as we privatize is to say: It is an option that the farmers will have. They may be in or they may be out. Over time, sugar-cane is not the only thing that will lift us out of poverty. Many companies, Mumias included, had paved the way for diversification of the type that might lead us one day to the Brazil example where sugar is just like a by- product and, therefore, you can afford to price it accordingly with the main components being ethanol and others. Things went wrong, which tells us that even corporate governance in the private sector can go wrong and, certainly, there are major issues in corporate governance that have spoiled what I thought was otherwise a very good example. Unless our systems work fully, the commercial system anywhere in the world, including ours, does not work well. All the aspects must work well. Which other aspects am I talking about? It is the judicial system, for example. If there are aberrations; if there are deviations from the norm, they can be tackled and taken up. But we have systems that many times you “sort of” lose their trail when there is reinforcement that is supposed to be done. Those are the kinds of things that undermine even corporate governance. We shall not get it unless we get that bit right. Respect for contracts and enforcement of those contracts without emotion. Where I come from in Nambale, we have Nasewa land where things did not go right. Things did not go right just because of bad corporate governance and the people have not been brought to book whatsoever. The losses are being absorbed by somebody, including the Government. That cannot be the case. For those who know about the sugar industry, the amount of money that has been pumped into it is not commensurate with the output that we expect from it. Some enforcement is needed. Why would the company that has been running throughout the year be unable to get money even to finance the annual maintenance program? Whyshould the taxpayer put money in that kind of thing? I support the privatisation call but on condition, of course, that you give them a tight leash. Give them a tight leash. Get the guys who are stealing from those companies; get the people who are rent-seeking from those companies and let us see if the remaining factors like land, machinery and capital will be reconstituted to have a profitable and viable enterprise going on. As it is, it has been a drain on the taxpayer and if we hold on to this any longer, we are draining further the taxpayer. If that farmer knew, if that consumer of sugar in that area knew that he could get sugar at Kshs45 or Kshs50, they would not support the process where they end up paying Kshs120. So, let us think about the consumption side as well. They are many factors to weigh. My plea to my colleagues is that this is a dead weight loss. If we continue holding The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}