Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 619824,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/619824/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 315,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Otucho",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12837,
        "legal_name": "Mary Emaase Otuch",
        "slug": "mary-emaase-otuch"
    },
    "content": "Having said that, this is a very important Report. I am surprised that some of the Members have attempted to use this Report to settle personal scores. This Report is very important to the sugarcane growing regions and farmers across the country. I have witnessed the suffering of farmers due to delayed payments or what they refer to as a “DR” and delayed harvesting of cane. Most of the farmers, like those in my constituency, grow cane as the only cash crop. Some of them committed all their small pieces of land to cane farming. They depend on it to finance all their needs. When such an important issue is brought to the Floor of the House, Members should not use it to play politics. We have so many platforms to play politics. The sugar industry is ailing. That is a fact that we must appreciate. The challenges that have been highlighted by the Committee on the Floor of this House are not new to us. We have discussed them in the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade and in the Departmental Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperatives. As a country, we are not taking these challenges seriously. As much as there are so many recommendations, I do not want to belabour some of the points. The problem is the mismanagement of the factories. The factories are good. I am even surprised that Recommendation 117 says that the Government should consider offering tax breaks to encourage new investors. We have a net surplus of investors. In Busia County, we have two factories at a distance of less than 10 kilometres. The problem is not that we do not have enough investors in the sugar industry. We have more than enough investors in the sugar industry. The real problem is mismanagement. That has been explained. The real problem is the importation of cheap and illegal sugar into the country. In Recommendation 108, the Committee recommends that we need to develop relevant laws and regulations and make them stiffer. We have sufficient laws. The problem is enforcement of those laws and regulations. Legislation will be an exercise in futility. The problem is all of us. It is the culture and the mind-set. We must address the real problems. Otherwise, we will make many laws or legislate a thousand times, but unless there is commitment to enforce these laws, we will continue to experience problems and our farmers will continue to suffer. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, let me talk about the issue of cartels. Some of our farmers are not benefitting from their cane. There are cartels that even purchase the cane before it matures. Therefore, they sell the cane to the sugar factories and take all the profits. Does that mean that we do not have regulations and laws that govern marketing of sugar?"
}