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{
    "id": 718599,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/718599/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 287,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Opiyo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1174,
        "legal_name": "Jared Odhiambo Opiyo",
        "slug": "jared-odhiambo-opiyo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, though I can see the Member for Suna East and the Member for Mbita struggling to attract your attention. Members of this House are elected by the people of Kenya to come and first of all represent them, make laws on their behalf and also exercise oversight on the Executive. As many of my colleagues have pointed out, the intention of this Bill is, to say the least, malicious. The intention is to remove Parliament from discussing the privatisation of any parastatal here in Kenya. I think that has got a bad motive. With regard to reappointment of members of commissions, it is immoral to just expect that members will be given a blanket reappointment without regard to how they performed in the last term. The vetting process in Parliament has got parameters. Sometimes people are vetted upon the way they delivered while they were in office. Giving them direct appointment and denying Parliament the opportunity to relook at their past performances and behaviour while they were in office is not right. While some Members were contributing, they alluded to the fact that there were write- offs. Even the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade alluded to the fact that in the past there have been write-offs in the sugar sub-sector. I want to put the record straight and state categorically that indeed towards the tail end of the 10th Parliament, there were conversations with regard to write-offs of debts within the sugar sub-sector and indeed other agro-based subsectors. Others were effected; the one for the sugar companies was not effected. This country must wake up. We do not want situations where certain sub-sectors of the economy are discriminated against just by virtue of their geographical location or by virtue of the people who participate in those activities. I can state here that we have been waiting for the write-offs. We have asked questions about the same here but there have not been answers forthcoming. The worst is write-offs of debts owed by farmers directly. Sometimes, due to bad weather, crops fail, the farmers are unable to repay their loans. It is very discriminatory when the coffee sub-sector debts are written off and the ones for the sugar sub-sector are not written off. We have expressed fears that we must be careful---"
}