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{
    "id": 619702,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/619702/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 193,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bunyasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "laws and regulations on land subdivision. Land is subdivided for many reasons and not for sugarcane growing. So, this does not come out clearly. On the issues of declining productivity, I want to use the example of Mumias Sugar Company simply because I have some idea about it. My colleagues who know other factories in detail will also help us on this one. The yield levels on the company owned land are lower than the small-holder farmer who is being accused of occupying small land and not applying fertiliser. Something is not right. At one time, Mumias Sugar Company had a consultant from South Africa who came and told them what the problem was. That was about the soils and other aspects. They were not practising scientific farming. There is a decline there because of inadequate application of what we know could be done to increase yields. So, blaming farmers is simply blaming the voiceless. The highest yields that Mumias Sugar Company gets do not come from the land managed by the company. They come from private farmers who do not own land measuring 100 acres. As we get into this, we should realise that there are certain statements that have been believed to be true that are not necessarily true. On the institutional side, licensing has been done in a manner that I can virtually describe as corrupt. The institutions that were responsible such as the Kenya Sugar Board did not have the authority that the law had given it. That was being usurped by other people. It has now become a pretty ugly process. I have been to court and to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Tribunal a couple of times with two companies fighting with each other simply because they now anticipate that they are going to compete for resources. That is a recipe for disaster as we move forward. We must thank the Committee for the issues they were able to collect. I want to speak from a point of knowledge. I was a member of the Board of Directors of Mumias for two-and-a- half years - close to three years - and there were many things that were not right which I captured in the minutes of the company. Many of them have also been captured here. I also felt strongly that given the background of pervasive abuse, briberies and rent seeking--- Whereas the Managing Director may personify that the issue included the management and so on, I am glad that the recommendation which seeks to get this wider follow-up has remained. If we had done anything that was being proposed, it would have been a way to subvert the process. We have heard a lot about illegal imports. These have revenue implications and, therefore, they have also got employment implications domestically. They also have got health implications. It cannot be that this Republic is incapable of controlling illegal imports. Forget Egypt which does not produce surplus sugar. They do not have sugar to sell to us. Everybody knows where the sugar in Egypt comes from. We have left that to happen in contravention of the COMESA protocol that had been agreed on. We did not take action on that. There are inflows from the borders particularly at the Coast, North Eastern regions and the border along the sea with Somalia. We get sugar imports that are not inspected to start with. So, you cannot determine the quality of that sugar. They are, therefore, a big health risk. Some of the sugar may be completely unsuitable for human consumption. Who knows that? If you cannot monitor and control the inflow of a heavy commodity like sugar, can you control the inflow of lighter commodities like guns and explosives on these same borders? Now that we are taking tighter measures on terrorism, that should also be tightened. We should set rules which should be obeyed once we have the market. 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."
}