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{
    "id": 624518,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/624518/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 205,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Nooru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2238,
        "legal_name": "Adan Mohamed Nooru",
        "slug": "adan-mohamed-nooru"
    },
    "content": "debts amounting to billions of shillings belonging to those factories. Fifty-one years down the line we are still bailing out sugar factories. So, members should stand up and say that the Government should privatise this industry because farmers only want their sugarcane to be sold. I heard a Member say that he is clearing sugarcane that has been in the farm for 48 months. How do you sell when there is nobody to mill? If there are those who have not invested in sugarcane but farmers sell to them, it is a poaching issue. The Indian factories pay on time and farmers are happy with them. That is why they are running away from Government mills because they do not pay. The Government has tried the best. The COMESA protocal has been extended by six times to protect the sugar industry but that should be the final one. This is the only commodity that the Government levies 110 per cent taxes in an effort to protect it. Therefore, people who come from those areas must stop politics, because that is the only way that it can survive and thrive. You should deal with the sector from the economic point of view. The final point I want to make relates to the regulatory body. The regulatory body which replaced the Kenya Sugar Board is the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA) which has been in existence for the last three years. Up to now that body is not operational because of the way the Act is crafted. It was supposed to elect eight members from different sectors of sugar, coffee, tea, pyrethrum, cotton and other sectors. So, the eight members of the Board are supposed to be elected by Kenyan farmers. That is almost like going into national elections. It has become impossible to elect eight members throughout the country to represent farmers on the Board. So, we need to amend the AFFA Act so that, at least, this Act can be operational and the regulator can do the job it is supposed to do. With those few remarks, Hon. Speaker, I beg to reply."
}