{"id":822308,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/822308/?format=json","text_counter":220,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Suba South, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. John Mbadi","speaker":{"id":110,"legal_name":"John Mbadi Ng'ong'o","slug":"john-mbadi"},"content":"First, according to this Report, he was advised that there was still a sugar shortage. I did not do this Report; it is the Committee. He was advised that there was still a shortage. That is why he varied the termination of the gazetted period to December. Later, he was again advised by the relevant Ministry that there was enough sugar. He did the right thing and reduced the period to October. What mistake did Rotich make? I have been asking myself this: If I want to sacrifice this Rotich, on what basis will I do it? If I were the Cabinet Secretary for Finance in charge of Treasury, I would be the one constitutionally and legally allowed to issue Gazette notices. If you have been advised by the inter-ministerial committee in charge of food that there is shortage of sugar, you are required to issue a Gazette notice. It was not Rotich’s responsibility to determine who was to bring sugar ino this country, that responsibility is with the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. By the way, there is licensing procedure. If Rotich had issued a Gazette notice waiving the licensing procedure, then we would hold him accountable but he just gave a go-ahead for sugar importation. It was the duty of the AFFA to ensure that sugar that was being imported into this country was being imported by who and what quantity. That was supposed to form part of the licensing procedure. That is not the work of Rotich as far as I am concerned. The issue of quality is with the KEBS. 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."}