{"id":806411,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/806411/?format=json","text_counter":151,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Orengo","speaker_title":"The Senate Minority Leader","speaker":{"id":129,"legal_name":"Aggrey James Orengo","slug":"james-orengo"},"content":" Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also join my colleagues in supporting the sentiments of Sen. Malalah. The matter of importation of contraband goods, particularly sugar, has been with us for quite a long time and what surprises the country at the moment is that sugar that is being imported from as far as Brazil is entering the country at entry points which are undefined. From my security perspective, we are not getting any satisfactory explanation from the Government. I know that there is a health component in this matter because what we are talking about is sugar which is toxic. In fact, we do have what is known in courts as the sugar wars because we have always had people fighting on who is going to get a permit to import sugar into the country every year as artificial shortage is created in the country for sugar to be imported. The importation of sugar has killed so many industries in the country while countries like Mauritius and Sudan have shown that the sugar industry is a viable industry and it has built Mauritius into an economy that is enviable in this part of the world, though Mauritius is now diversifying. I understand why Sen. (Dr.) Kabaka was talking with so much passion on this issue. Indeed, sugar importation is related to how we control our borders. I was once a Member of the Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations and we visited Mandera where there is a no man’s land there and the business that we saw going on while we were there as a Parliamentary Committee is amazing. A lot of sugar that is entering this country is not coming through the Port of Mombasa. Instead, it is coming through other entry points particularly in the north eastern region though I am not saying that it is being imported by people from the north eastern region. This sugar is imported into the country by cartels, who are based in Nairobi,who have killed a lot of factories, particularly in the Western region. There is a new factory in the coast that is barely on its feet yet we have the question of illegal importation of sugar. Without fear of contradiction, I want to say that these cartels are being enabled by people in Government. They cannot bring this amount of sugar in the country without co-conspirators in the Government and this includes The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."}