Rt. Hon.(Eng) Raila Amolo Odinga

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 631 to 640 of 1732.

• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion is timely because, as the Mover has rightly said, it affects very many of our farmers. As a Government, we are very concerned about the plight of the people who derive their livelihood from this commodity. As the seconder did, I want to declare my interest in this sector. I am also a sugarcane farmer. view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: A lot of the materials that are contained in this Report are already in the public knowledge. It is also material which has previously been discussed on the Floor of this House. For a long time, we have been talking about revamping the sugar industry and making the sugarcane farmer happier, so that we can continue to expand the production of sugarcane. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know that our annual sugar consumption is now just over 600,000 tonnes, and our production capacity is just about 400,000 tonnes. Therefore, we have to import, on an annual basis, 200,000 tonnes ... view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: factories privatised. Therefore, I urge the particular House Committee to do this as soon as possible. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, talking about the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), we know that the window is going to close very soon. We know that by the year 2012--- view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: I will accept the information from the honourable Chairman. view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is not the information I have on this matter. In fact, I called the hon. Member yesterday over this same issue. I called him because the Privatisation Committee has actually complained to me that they could not move because the Departmental Committee of this House has not convened a meeting. They even showed me correspondence from the Privatisation Committee to the Departmental Committee of this House. So, we really need to find a way of reconciling our positions, because I have been told by the Privatisation Committee that they cannot move because the Departmental ... view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Mover talked about those who are involved in Ramisi Sugar Factory as being people whose names and addresses are not known. I invite the hon. Member to seek information from the Government. The Government cannot allow fictitious people to come and invest in this country. Those are people whose addresses and names are well known. Even the terms and conditions of their engagement were clearly discussed with the Ministry of Agriculture, and then the project was launched. view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: In the Tana Delta, we also want to set up another scheme. This matter is being discussed with Mumias Sugar Company. There has been resistance by some communities. As you know, all the time, there are competing interests between the pastoralist communities and the sedentary communities, but we must be able to explore the full potential of this country. Areas which are suitable for large-scale agriculture production need to be used for those purposes. view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I agree with some of the recommendations that are contained in this report, for example, with regard to the cheating of the cane farmers through the weighing scales and so on. But those are details which the Ministry of Agriculture is going to competently respond to. Let me conclude by saying that this is just one area, but we have several other areas which require liberalization, if we really have to move forward. This sector is not going to be competitive enough to compete when the COMESA safeguards are removed. These factories will collapse basically ... view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: We know that there are other value additions which have not been taking place like coal generation. The generation of electricity and the production of ethanol from molasses can be added, but if it is added and the factory is, therefore, making more money from the original cane, that benefit needs to be shared with the farmer. You will find that the cane prices remain constant when, for example, the companies have introduced other fields and are now generating electricity which they are selling to the grid. They are producing ethanol, which they are also selling, but the farmers continue ... view
• 18 May 2011 in National Assembly: On a point of information, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. The hon. Member was a Minister for Finance in the Government and he promised this factory and it never came. I want to inform him that, in fact, he we have now found an investor to invest and develop the Busia Sugar Company. view