{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=138220","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=138218","results":[{"id":1398601,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398601/?format=json","text_counter":251,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Okiya Omtatah","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank you for the opportunity to address this august House on this important Bill. To begin with, I agree with Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale that this Bill should and must be passed. The most important thing at this stage is to disengage sugar farming from the Agriculture Food Authority (AFA), so that we can focus on matters sugar without being disrupted by matters Pyrethrum and other crops, which are equally important. By moving away from the AFA, we shall be leaving up to the maxim that bite small and chew finely to avoid constipation. AFA was an extremely messy contraption; too obese to do anything good for us. Secondly, I thank the Committee who found it appropriate to conduct public participation in Busia. We mobilized farmers from the county and other stakeholders across the region to come and participate and make contributions about the Bill. However, much as we want to pass this Bill, I have some reservations informed by the question of ownership of cane. Tenant farming is still continuing, where farmers become tenants on their own lands as millers own the sugarcane that they are growing on their own land. We need to interrogate that issue and see what proposals you can come up with to ensure that a farmer is not reduced to a tenant on his own land. Perhaps, that might require a deliberate move towards farmers’ cooperatives in the sugar industry, so that inputs and whatever support the national and county governments choose to give, reach the farmers through cooperatives and not through the sugar miller. The question for out grower companies for me is a no-go area. They demonstrated total incompetence. They were avenues for corruption, oppression and exploitation of the farmers. Most of them were used to stealing money from the same farmers and they mostly became agents of the millers. I would love a situation where the farmers grow the cane, organize themselves into groups, are financed, grow the cane, own the cane and when the cane is mature, they negotiate with the miller. Therefore, they can say, “we have got this much cane. How much are you willing to pay us or we move the next miller?” The idea of Government support to farmers being channelled through the millers tends to reduce the farmers to tenants on their own land and that for me is unacceptable. Also, the Bill is not very strong on the demand that factories modernize and begin producing more than just sugar from the raw product called sugarcane. There is need for millers to invest in modern technologies. Of course, they are making profits right now The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1398602,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398602/?format=json","text_counter":252,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Okiya Omtatah","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"because they are not paying the farmer for the entire value of the sugar cane. If they are compelled to pay the farmer the value of the sugarcane, most would close shop. An amendment that will push towards modernization of the sugar industry in this country is the one that is also targeting the miller. The miller should pay the farmer for the array of products that are possible and have been achieved in other parts of the world, where we always compare ourselves to and wonder why they are so efficient and productive. I fully agree with what Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale said that harvesting pre-mature cane should be punished. However, beyond that, what is mature cane? Is it cane that is 15, 16 or 20 months old? I have seen studies done by the millers in this country, which demonstrates that the optimum age for harvesting sugar in this country is 20 months. Since in the last four months the cane tends to grow almost half the size it was at the age of about 16 months. The sucrose content also rises and it is a win-win situation for the miller and the farmer. Therefore, mature cane should be clearly defined in terms of sucrose content and value of the cane. It should not be abstract that pre-mature cane is what you see. It should be determined scientifically through measures, weights and so on. The question of inputs needs to be addressed. It is a global issue in terms of agriculture in this country and the other areas. Cartels have infiltrated inputs. One time I was having a discussion with my good friend Arap Menjo. He was walking me through the Kenya Farmers’ Co-operative (KFC). He told me that in the colonial times, the colonizers had organized themselves in such a way that they controlled the production of seeds through what is now the Agriculture Famers Training Centre (ATC) and so on. The farmers controlled the production of seeds and made sure they were of the correct quality. Therefore, whatever crop that we were going to grow was of the correct quality. Mr. Arap Menjo also told me that through the KFC, they could purchase inputs for their farmers, first of all, in bulk to ensure that the prices were lowered. They could also ensure the quality of the inputs, so that the kind of things, which are arising with fertilizers here, where anybody can import fertilizer today, could not arise. The farmers controlled it. Additionally, at the end of the day, they controlled the pricing of the product in confirmation with the other players in the market, so that the farmers were never at the mercy of cartels. However, KFC was destroyed. Certain arrangements need to be made so that we can protect the farmers from the rogue players in production of seed and other inputs. Perhaps, we should be thinking of these vast Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) lands and turning them into multiplication centres for quality seed. Since, if you look at how seed in the sugar industry is utilized, they just go and pick sugar cane of a certain age, usually young canes; give to the next farmer to grow and propagate it that way. There is a need to control the seed, so that we know what number of cuttings or ratoons can still be used as sugar cane seed. However, I feel that the first aid is still land, especially if you can recover them from those who have stolen them, and can be put to good use as centers for working in partnership with the Kenya Sugar Research Centers to provide us with quality seed. Those interventions would be of help. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1398603,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398603/?format=json","text_counter":253,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Okiya Omtatah","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"The other thing that has been overlooked is the environmental damage that sugarcane causes. Sugarcane farming is very heavy on the environment. It takes a lot of chemicals, fertilizers and all those things. Many of our water masses have been nitrified. For example, Lake Victoria is virtually a dying lake now due to the farming methods of cane in Western province. Most of the soils within the sugar belt have become too acidic for viable farming. Let nobody cheat you; something must be done to control the growth of cane in the lowlands. Our swamps have all been drained. We do not have swamps. In my village, we used to have a beautiful swamp called Kakoleit, which means, the home of fish. This is an area where fish used to breed a lot, and then the fish would go down to Lake Victoria during the heavy rains. These swamps have been drained. They are now sugarcane plantations. No wonder there is no fish in Lake Victoria. That is one of the contributing factors. We must also come up with mechanisms to control and mitigate the environmental damage that sugarcane farming is causing. Otherwise, we might be doing what is akin to cutting down Kakamega Forest, led by Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, creating temporary jobs by those who will be cutting down the wood and hewing it into timber, and exporting the timber out and reflecting growth in our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Then tomorrow, when the droughts come and ravage us, we will begin wondering what hit us. We must embrace sugarcane farming and ensure that it is environmentally friendly. The use of the word “environment” could be misplaced. I personally do not believe in the word ‘environment’. I believe in the word “ecosystem” because environment takes you out of the ecosystem and makes you the boss of the ecosystem, such that it becomes something surrounding that you can exploit. We must create a sugar ecosystem that is sustainable in the sugar farming areas. On the composition of the board, I notice we still have the question of farmers' representatives. If the experience under the defunct Kenya Sugar Board is anything to go by, you realise that the farmers lacked the capacity to campaign and become directors on the board. At the end of the day, individuals were sponsored by the millers to go and be representatives of farmers on the board. All they did while on the board was farmers' bidding. We need to look at the composition of the board and how we will ring-fence it in such a way that millers do not sponsor their puppets to go on the board, such that whatever the solution of the board makes is just miller-friendly and never farmer- friendly. I am also happy that the Bill provides for a major role by the county governments. That provision that the county governments within a cluster of farming cane will come up with the regulations or implementation mechanisms of this Act. This is very important. We must empower our counties to be able to deliver on that mandate. Otherwise, it would just be wishful thinking. It is a mandate that requires a lot of input and so, we must find a way of empowering our counties. The question of the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) being given money should not be there unless KeRRA is devolved. KeRRA and Kenya Urban Roads The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1398604,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398604/?format=json","text_counter":254,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Okiya Omtatah","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Authority (KURA) are unconstitutional. We cannot give them money. They need to be put under the Council of Governors (CoG), so that when they execute their role of doing rural roads and urban roads, they are doing it under the supervision of the governors. We only leave Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to execute national highways. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I undeservedly support this Bill. I support the creation of clusters, where a group of factories in a region is given exclusive mandate within the region, so that there is competition within the region and survival of the fittest within that cluster. Also, the farmer has a choice to choose within the cluster. This is a well-thought-out Bill. In its essence, the skeleton is faultless. Let us then find a way to ensure that we come up with a body that will serve the broad interests of the Republic of Kenya to become the dominant and preeminent producer of sugar on the continent of Africa and globally. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I support."},{"id":1398605,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398605/?format=json","text_counter":255,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Sen. Veronica Maina, proceed."},{"id":1398606,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398606/?format=json","text_counter":256,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Veronica Maina","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity to debate on the Bill that is on the Floor of this House. At the very onset, this is a Bill that should have happened yesterday or many years ago. It is one day too late, but thank God it is finally here. This is because if there is a sector that has seen confusion, cartels, where farmers have been frustrated by brokers and the market has been manipulated, it is the sugar sector. Unfortunately, those who tend to suffer most are the peasant farmers and many stakeholders, who have held the sugar industry, in spite of the sugar sector in Kenya being in tears. If there is one sector that has been unpredictable and subject to very - I do not even know what to call the kind of regulation and legislation that it has encountered - is the sugar sector. You will find that the doors of sugar from other region, for example, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), have been opened, sometimes even through the backdoor, just manipulating the market to enable certain individuals to earn from the sugar. That is why the Sugar Bill, (National Assembly Bills No.34 of 2022) is a very good idea that we were waiting to happen. I congratulate the promoter and the proposer of this Bill, our Senator, having found it fit to bring out legislation that is very well- thought-out and comprehensive. Clause 4 of this Bill has finally introduced the concept of facilitating a board that is supposed to facilitate equitable access to benefits and resources of the industry. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that means the Bill appreciates the fact that there has been inequity in the sugar sector in Kenya. We have watched on television instances where farmers in the western region have been left with cane or have taken cane to factories or mills that have collapsed and those farmers have not been paid. I hope this Bill can introduce a clause to see how such farmers could be indemnified; especially, those farmers who were known to have invested so much and because of distortion in the sugar market, they have suffered loses. Some might never even be able to recover from the loss or collapse that they have seen. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1398607,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398607/?format=json","text_counter":257,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Veronica Maina","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Some of the Members of Parliament (MP) and Senators from the western region could actually be in Parliament courtesy of the politics of sugar. This is because, any time sugar is mentioned in some regions in Kenya, it means either one is correct or incorrect depending on the kind of ideas they are giving about the sugar sector. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have looked at the composition of the board in Section Six of this Bill. The composition is so balanced. It has taken the spread of stakeholders. It constitutes of a non-executive chairperson appointed by the President. It takes on board five representatives elected by farmers, the public and private owned sugar mills, the Council of Governors (CoG), the Principal Secretary Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, an appointee of PS, Treasury and a CEO who is also an ex- officio member to the board or the secretary to the board. This by itself has brought in the very key stakeholders. By the very virtue of how this board has been constituted, it then means that the heated politics and undercurrents that we have experienced in the sugar sector in Kenya can finally be managed. All those pressures can now be taken up by the board because most of the stakeholders have been represented in the board. We will not have one stakeholder suddenly complaining that they do not understand what is being done by the board because they are not represented. What must bring a smile to the sugar farmers is that they will be represented on the board. It is also very good that the Bill proposes that the CEO must be a graduate; a holder of some credentials because looking at the kind of a board the CEO will be working with, it then means that they need to be qualified in a certain specialty within the sugar sector and will bring some value proposition to the table. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when I look at what the board is entrusted to do, they are comprehensive and very exhaustive. It does not only deal with issues that affect sugar locally, the Bill is also dealing with issues that will affect sugar imported from other regions like Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). We are already aware that in Kenya, we have seen issues of substandard sugar being imported and the sugar being given to the common mwananchi to consume, a produce that does not meet the standard. This Bill then introduces the standardization and offers the legal infrastructure that is required to ensure that any sugar that is intended for consumption has met the expected standards. That is why, I support the Bill. However, I have noted Section 22 provides that licensing of the mills would be issued by the board and would expire on the 30th of June. I do not know why the drafter of this Bill thought of matching the license year to the financial year that is normally undertaken by the Government. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is because Clause 22 provides that a license issued under this Act shall be subject to such conditions as the Board may determine and as prescribed in regulations. Clause 19(4) states that- “Every license shall unless earlier revoked, expire on the 30th June next, following the date of issue”. I do not know why we would have the license expire on 30th June. There is no connection between the license and the financial year. My proposal to Sen. Osotsi or the Chairperson of this Committee would be to consider making the expiry of this license to The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1398608,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398608/?format=json","text_counter":258,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Veronica Maina","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"be 31st December on every consecutive year. It does not need to align with the financial year and most of the licenses are issued on annual basis and the year runs from 1st January to 31st December. That is a correction that can be done because putting it in the middle of the year is disruptive to the farmers and the factories. Supposing it is not granted and we are in the middle of a season, it would defeat the purpose. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Bill is comprehensive. It constitutes provisions for a tribunal and the segmentation of different sugar catchment areas in its First Schedule. I find it a very organized legal Bill that is going to push the sector into some form of organization considering the chaos this sector has seen in the last few years in Kenya. I therefore stand to support the passing of this Bill into law and congratulate the proposer of this Bill. I thank you."},{"id":1398609,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398609/?format=json","text_counter":259,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Sen. Wamatinga Wahome."},{"id":1398610,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1398610/?format=json","text_counter":260,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wamatinga","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13582,"legal_name":"Wahome Wamatinga","slug":"wahome-wamatinga"},"content":"Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I sit in the Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. I commend the Committee for the effort it has put in this Bill, having worked over the weekends to Mondays. This is a clear indication that the Committee is dedicated to ensuring that legal frameworks are put in place that will ensure the farmers of this country no longer suffer from the predicament they have been suffering from. It has been said by many Senators who contributed to this debate that the sugarcane, coffee, tea, macadamia or avocado farmers in Kenya have always been taken advantage of by middlemen because of lack of sound legal framework to protect them. It is unfortunate that most of our farmers who work hard to put meals on their tables end up getting exploited. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill is a perfect indication that with good legal framework, farmers can be protected and assisted. Most importantly, this Bill ensures that the levies and the cess collected do not only go into repairing the roads, but research is also given its rightful place in the industry. We know that after the colonial era, there were sound research institutions in Kenya that saw many sectors perform very well. However, as we progressed and corruption became a part of our society, people were taken advantage of and farming was reduced. The brokers living in big cities took advantage of the poor farmers, their yield, work and input. Most of them ended paying for loans they never took and for inputs, fertilizers and pesticides that they never used. This is because there was lack of a framework that would govern how that is administered. That is why moving forward we are enjoying political goodwill from none other than the President of this country. This has ensured that the farmers are given their rightful dividends and that we put in place sound mechanisms anchored in law that can be enforced to make sure that farmers get their rightful dues. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is very impressive indeed when you listen to the President address every gathering that, yes, we can feed this nation. This has for the last 60 years dodged us but now with the right political leadership under His Excellency (Dr.) The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."}]}