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{
    "id": 924846,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/924846/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 132,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Endebess, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Robert Pukose",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": "This is a very timely Motion in terms of how we should provide incentives to our farmers and improve trade. Just the other day, we wanted to import 12.5 million bags of maize and then we have now moved to 6 million bags of maize, and yet we do not have any proper data to tell us the maize capacity that our farmers produce. In the North Rift, our maize will be ready in October and November. In Western Kenya, their maize is ready in July while in South Rift, it is ready in May. If you say that the country produces about 40 million bags of maize and then claim that its consumption of the same is 48 million bags, that should make it constant that the whole production is at the same time. But that is not what happens. Different areas produce at different seasons. Our neighbouring country, Uganda has its maize ready for movement now. It is the same case in Tanzania. We adopted the East African Community Free Trade Policy in 2012. It means that Ugandans and Tanzanians are supposed to move their goods freely. Is that what happens? I informed Principal Secretary, Mr. Kibicho, the other day that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officer at Suam Customs in Endebess gets money from farm produce. He taxes the people crossing to Uganda or those coming to Kenya. Our own farmers who bring maize from Suam Forest get taxed. That should not happen; it is corruption. This is something that needs to be looked into. I urge customs and the immigration departments to interrogate the officer who is getting money from farmers illegally and pocketing it. The incentive we are talking about is to allow our famers to produce a lot and allow them to move freely with their goods because it is their entitlement. We have the East African Community Treaty in place. Therefore, our people, whether they are going to sell or buy goods in Uganda or Tanzania, should move freely. Nobody should sit at Suam Customs in Endebess to collect money that does not end up at the National Treasury."
}