{"id":806445,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/806445/?format=json","text_counter":185,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wako","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":366,"legal_name":"Amos Sitswila Wako","slug":"amos-wako"},"content":"Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Importation of sugar has been an avenue of corruption ever since I joined Government way back in 1991 and it continues to be an avenue of corruption to date. However, because I have only two minutes, I will not go into the details. We tried to limit it by saying that only millers like Mumias Sugar Company should import sugar to meet the shortfall. There is always a shortfall of sugar compared to consumption in this country, which is met by importation. Even with that, those millers also exercised their own corruption at that level, where officials of some of those companies imported sugar under their own names. The sugar would then be brought to the factory and they would treat it as if they were importations by that factory. However, nothing happened and nothing was done. Therefore, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have always wondered why the Government itself cannot import sugar. Why does it give it to individuals and corporations to import? The Government knows the level of consumption required, why can they not do so? We used to have the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) and so on. Just that one act will stop this corruption. Secondly, sugar barons fight hard. People are bound to fight where there is money involved. When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. We have suffered a lot in Busia County because sugar barons have fought each other. A genuine owner of a sugar factory who brought a lot of investment to Busia County was being fought by other barons. They are still there up to now; they have not taken off ---"}