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    "id": 821356,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/821356/?format=api",
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    "content": "Cabinet. So, it is not something which is new. In subsequent years, other Parliaments have dealt with this issue. Madam Temporary Speaker, one thing that is important to bring out is that the western part of Kenya, particularly Bungoma, Kakamega, Trans Nzoia and parts of Uasin Gishu which can be considered as grain centres of the country seem to be suffering over these years. These, together with the problems which are facing the sugar sector in those parts of the country which includes Bungoma County, may need one to conclude that there is maybe a policy somewhere to try and ensure that this industries in the food sector which are very important – both sugar and maize – for purposes of meeting the food requirements of the country and in the economic life and activity in those areas. So, it is not just about maize, food farmers and livelihoods in the western parts of the country and those counties that I have mentioned. So, one fails to understand why over these years, this problem keeps recurring. I hope the Committee will come up with an overview as to why this is a perennial problem and come up with lasting solutions. For one thing, some of these problems are political. If you see the way these waivers are given over the years, especially for importation of sugar and maize, the people who normally get these licenses for importation, one can see clearly that in the last 10 years, there has been a policy to give it to millers both in the sugar and maize sector. However, if you do an analysis of those who actually get the large share of these waivers to import, they are people who are politically correct, so to speak. That needs to be looked at. Finally, if, as a country, we cannot have stability in food production and be food secure – being a third world nation and knowing the vagaries of the weather and the change in climate as has been pointed out in the Motion – we are not going in the right direction. I hope that when the Committee retires to write its report, it will not just be any one of these reports that have been written over the years. I think that they have an onerous duty because this is a problem that has occurred many times in the last 50 or so years. We need to look at the hand of the Government in this sector. How is it that in the coffee and tea sector, although there are problems there, they are not of the kind and magnitude that you find in the sugar and maize sector? One would want to think; are we better off with the Government getting out of this sector or farmers being given some kind of autonomy to organise themselves into Savings and Credit Co-operative Organizations (SACCOs) and import and sell, instead of giving it to the millers? This is because giving it to the millers who also mill the maize is like putting the whole food chain of importation, milling and marketing in the same hands. It is a serious thing that the food chain from milling to distribution and marketing remains in the same hands. Those who actually labour to produce the maize are left in circumstances where they cannot continue to have the confidence of growing maize and ensuring that the nation is fed. With those few remarks, I support and thank the Hon. Senator for Bungoma County."
}