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{
    "id": 763181,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/763181/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 107,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Melly",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12849,
        "legal_name": "Julius Kipbiwot Melly",
        "slug": "julius-kipbiwot-melly"
    },
    "content": "their farming activities, buy fertilizers, till the farm and prepare the crop. Banks are now selling people’s property, including land, because farmers had already mortgaged them through the loan facilities they took. The AFC is on the neck of farmers demanding their pay. We have a responsibility, as representatives of the people, to do something about it. The Jubilee Government has tried. In a few months’ time, we have seen cheques being issued to factories such as Mumias and Chemelil. However, that is not going to be enough. We need to be strict and ensure that cane production is profitable. We need to support our people. Many depend on the sugar factories. Most employees have not been paid salaries for about seven months. They are unable to pay fees and medical care. We need to make sure that we penalise and ask millers to ensure that the moment they receive cane, they have a responsibility to pay in less than 14 days. Every time you find that a farmer has bought a tractor, maybe through a loan, but within one year the tractor is repossessed. When I was growing up in the 80s and early 90s, farmers were very rich. You would not get individuals asking for handouts or anything about school fees. This is because these were diligent farmers who were able to pay their fees and bills. Now we are seeing a section of this country going down. So, I really want us to look at it as a House and ensure that these farmers are assisted and the only way to assist is to make sure that the miller who has now introduced a form of slavery--- I will use that word because farmers now give millers their cane and the miller decides when to pay even when he has sold the milled sugar. I have also seen a number of young men who have resorted to crime like cattle rustling. It is now coming up again in our region yet it was no longer there because many people had become settled farmers. The regions of Nandi, Tinderet, Uasin Gishu and parts of Soin/Sigowet have a serious problem and I ask this House to tell millers to make sure they pay farmers on time."
}