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{
    "id": 624472,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/624472/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 159,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ochieng",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "I think we need to address the following in the sugar industry. One, let us ensure that our tax regime in that industry mirrors our values and what we think the sugar industry portends to us in the country. Let us have the best infrastructure in this country for production, distribution and sale of sugar. We cannot keep talking about it as if our hands are tied behind our backs and there is nothing we can do about it. As Parliament and Government, we have the tools to ensure that the sugar industry helps farmers. Hon. Speaker, if you visited most parts of this country, including coast, you will find that children just stay at home because the sugar industry has failed. People cannot pay school fees; cannot access water and cannot have housing because their livelihoods depend on what we, as politicians and Government functionaries, keep talking about. Money is spent in investigations. We name names and say so and so should be investigated but nothing happens. Hon. Speaker, I agree with what you said last week that the Committee on Implementation should wake up and start taking the work of this Parliament seriously. We cannot keep asking questions and get good answers but there is no follow-up. We need the Committee on Implementation to follow up on the implementation of this Report so that the sugar industry can once more operate the way it used to. My father-in-law worked for Mumias Sugar Company all his life but he cannot receive his pension. We have to supplement it every other month because the factory cannot afford to pay pension to its former employees. It is not a small matter. The sooner we handle that industry, the better for this country. As I finish, sugarcane, wheat, rice and maize are crops which we should not play with. We should not allow corruption to clear crops that are the mainstay of this country. I thank you."
}