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"id": 664250,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/664250/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. F.K. Wanyonyi",
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"speaker": {
"id": 2065,
"legal_name": "Ferdinard Kevin Wanyonyi",
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"content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for the chance. From the outset, I want to thank my brother, Hon. Wamunyinyi, for coming up with this amendment. If you ask me, I would tell you that this is overdue. He is from the sugarcane growing area. The reality on the ground is that the cost of subdivision of land is high. You will find that the farmer has only two to five acres and because he is within the sugarcane growing region, he is forced to grow sugarcane. What happens is that they come together as an area to transport the sugarcane to the milling factory, sometimes as far as 50 kilometres away from the source. As explained by the Mover of the Bill, sugarcane is a very bulky product. Surely, to put VAT on sugarcane is wrong. I know KRA is desperate. They are looking for money, but this is wrong because basically, you are hitting a very poor farmer, a farmer who has only two or three acres. That is where he gets little money to educate his children and earn a living. Therefore, it is wrong for KRA to load these taxes on farmers. We need to support this amendment, so that farmers can grow sugarcane and earn a decent living. As I said, it makes it very difficult to compete. We have cases where sugar barons import counterfeit sugar from outside the country. They repackage it as from Mumias, Nzoia or other factories and say that it is a local product, yet the sugar has been smuggled into the country without payment of taxes. Our sugar here is not competitive because it is labour intensive. It is wrong for us to levy VAT on the transportation of sugarcane to factories. I am told and as he has mentioned in the memorandum, it is transporters who levy the tax. I am not very sure that this money is even remitted, but they are just making it very expensive because there is no follow up. We cannot know whether the transporters pay VAT. The poor farmer with the two acres is forced to pay that money. If you follow and track the payment by this poor farmer, you may find that the money has not reached where it is supposed to reach. The best we can do, therefore, is to do away with it altogether and do the right thing for our people. The other thing is that if you go to countries like South Sudan, Mauritius, Brazil and Seychelles, they plant sugarcane on large farms. Harvesting is very cheap because it is done mechanically, but ours is done manually. The cost of production of sugar here is very high because it is done manually as opposed to our competitors from the region. In Kenana Sugar Belt in South Sudan, there are thousands of acres. Our neighbouring country, Uganda, has Kagera Sugarcane Plantation which has thousands of acres of sugarcane. They are doing it mechanically as opposed to us, who do it manually. I want to support this amendment, so that farmers are relieved of this burden because it is not serving any purpose at all. Again, in terms of certain taxes as mentioned by one of the speakers, was there any public hearing that this should be introduced? There was none. For the introduction of these kinds of taxes, we should have had public hearing from those concerned. I also want to take this opportunity to thank my brother, Hon. Washiali, for fighting tirelessly for the sugarcane farmer. I want him to add his voice to this, so that farmers in the region are relieved of this burden to produce sugar and earn their living. I support Hon. Washiali and Hon. Wamunyinyi and all the other people from the sugarcane growing areas. We expect the House to come together and quash these taxes. With those few remarks, this Bill is here at the right time though it is overdue. I support the amendment. 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."
}