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{
    "id": 579122,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/579122/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 203,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Shidiye",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2070,
        "legal_name": "Mohamed Muktar Shidiye",
        "slug": "mohamed-muktar-shidiye"
    },
    "content": "200,000 metric tonnes. Naturally, we have to import. We can import from Uganda or Brazil. What Kenyan consumers need is sugar; that sweet product in their breakfast is very important. So, it is very important that we do not politicise issues that affect people of this country. When the President was presenting the bailout cheque everybody was happy. When the President enters into a trade agreement with Uganda, which is our neighbour, people start complaining. By the way, we export more to Uganda than we import from them. It is good to have inter-Africa trade. The sugar industry is not viable unless we commercialise and mechanise agriculture and provide subsidies and fertilisers to farmers. That is the reality. About six million Kenyans depend on sugar either directly or indirectly. So, we should never at any given time politicise the sugar industry because it affects every cane farmer and many farmers. On the youth, the President was also very clear. In the Finance Bill, the Committee did very well and even Obama talked about it. He said when you have half of your players, meaning the youth, the disabled and women, not in the field, the economy must suffer. These people must be brought into the mainstream to fight poverty. Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) are the in-thing. Eighty per cent of the Kenyan economy is run by SMEs. That is why when we see the proposal that banks have to increase their capitalisation from Kshs1 billion to Kshs5 billion, we realise that many banks will be closed. We have already seen Dubai Bank is in a problem. Many banks will be forced to fold. If one needs Kshs5 billion to run a bank, many people in the finance sector who are supporting SMEs will be rendered out of business and irrelevant. So, it is very important that we look at the SMEs, the jua"
}