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{
    "id": 810991,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/810991/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 143,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kieni, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kanini Kega",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1813,
        "legal_name": "James Mathenge Kanini Kega",
        "slug": "james-mathenge-kanini-kega"
    },
    "content": "Livestock and Cooperatives in the 11th Parliament on the crisis facing the country in the sugar industry were implemented, some of these current problems could have been avoided. In 2017, the country was hit by drought and famine that led to lack of food and escalation of food prices. As one of the initiatives to mitigate the phenomenon, the President declared drought a national disaster on 10th February 2017, through Executive Order number 1 of 2017 and directed all relevant ministries to take immediate and necessary action to ensure that there was enough supplies of essential food commodities in the country to alleviate the adverse effects of the drought. Upon Cabinet approval on 5th May 2017, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning was requested to publish a Gazette Notice to allow importation of sugar and milk duty free for purposes of stabilising the prices of the said commodities. Subsequently, the Cabinet Secretary issued Gazette Notice No.4536 of 11th May 2017 on importation of sugar and milk duty free between 12th May 2017 and 31st August 2017. The importation of the said sugar reduced retail prices of sugar from an average price of Kshs175 per kilogramme to Kshs123 per kilogramme. By the expiry of the Gazette Notice, the Ministry of Agriculture, in their supply/demand analysis, observed that: (a) There was 50 per cent deficit on domestic production, leading to overall national deficit of 50 per cent of sugar; (b) Sugar millers were facing under-utilisation of domestic factories due to the shortage of sugarcane as a raw material; and, (c) The high sugar prices persisted. The Ministry of Agriculture, therefore, recommended that sugar millers be granted permission to import duty-free sugar up to December 2017, also considering that there was another Gazette Notice . The Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury, following the advice from the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, through Gazette Notice No.9801 allowed local sugar millers to import sugar between 1st September 2017 and 31st December 2017. On 10th October 2017, following a further analysis of the sugar situation in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture advised that the sugar was reasonably sufficient and there was no need for more sugar importation, hence the need to revoke Gazette Notice No.9804 of 2017. Consequently, the Cabinet Secretary of National Treasury, through Gazette Notice No.10149 of 13th October 2017, moved the deadline for duty-free importation from 31st December 2017 to 13th October 2017. Ninety five per cent of the sugar that came to the country came through the port of Mombasa and each consignment of sugar imported came with a certificate of conformity (COC), proving tests and conformity to international standards. On arrival to the Kenyan port of entry, the same was tested for compliance with Kenyan standards by KEBS before clearance into the country. The Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government informed the Committee that illicit trade from the Port of Kismayu in Somalia was a big threat with ramifications including terrorism, money laundering and movement of small arms. He further stated that Kenya has approximately 700 kilometres of porous borders and the government is investing heavily to secure it through heightened border control. It is only 95 per cent that came through the Port of Mombasa. Another 5 per cent of the sugar that came into the country came through the porous border that we have. It is also important to note the Cabinet Secretary for Interior informed that his communication to the public on the presence of heavy metal in some products in the market was The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}