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{
    "id": 664290,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/664290/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 79,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. King’ola",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2328,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Makau King'ola",
        "slug": "patrick-makau-kingola"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. At the outset, I must congratulate Hon. Wamunyinyi for bringing this amendment. Kenyan farmers of all cash crops have suffered for a long time and I am sure that if the Jubilee Government is serious on implementing the laws that we make here, so much will happen to Kenyans. This amendment reminds me of how the Kenyan farmer is demoralised and discouraged because of lack of market and new and challenging diseases. As we continue taxing the common farmer, we are not doing anything for this country. Sometimes, I look back and read history. There was President Sankara of Burkina Faso. He improved the way of farming by giving more incentives to farmers. They stopped consuming imports. In 1987, Burkina Faso was one of the poorest countries in the world, but because of that input by the president, a policy change brought a lot of change in the way things were done in Burkina Faso. After 50 years of independence, Kenya can do better. This amendment will give us a chance – as the Government and leaders - to improve farming. I agree with the previous speakers who have said that, instead of the exemption, we should zero-rate. That is because there is a way we can waive VAT and it benefits the middlemen and transporters and not the normal farmers. So, we must be very careful when we exempt that tax so that we do not make the middlemen benefit. From where I sit, most of them exploit our farmers. Most of the sugar that is brought into this country is not even sugar from sugarcane. It is a bi-product and it is very cheap. If we subsidise and give our farmers market, the price of our sugar is going to go down automatically. That means we are going to attract more markets and make farming easy through mechanising. Farmers harvest their cane manually. If we mechanise, the efficiency will be improved. A farmer who has 100 acres of cane can harvest within 10 days from 100 days. If we also improve the seedlings that our farmers use, the maturity age of the sugarcane is going to improve hence promoting the income of our farmers. It is important that, as a nation, we tax areas where a normal citizen is not affected. We can only kill those cartels if we revise how we tax our domestic products, be it coffee, tea, sugar or livestock. That is the only way. There is no economy which has grown without promoting the local farmer or producer. We have seen cartels taking over every sector of this economy. Be it milk, hide and skins business, everything has been taken over by cartels. As a nation and as leaders, we are saying that time has come when we must introduce taxes that will prohibit cartels. When you look at what Madagascar has done to its farmers, for example, there is no single sugar farmer in Madagascar who buys fertiliser or insecticides. They are all provided by the Government at subsidised rates. During harvest time, the Government provides machinery to the farmers. That improves the period of harvest and the time of taking the cane to the factory. The most progressive sugar farming in Africa is in Madagascar. I think it is a way we can follow by implementing good laws in the sugar sector. I wish to commend the Member of Parliament who has brought this Bill. With those few remarks, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I wish to support the Motion."
}