Sugarcane farmers want Parliament to discuss payment of their arrears.

The Chairman of the  National Sugarcane Farmers Task force Saulo Busolo addressing media in Kisumu together with some expert on Sugar Industry.The Farmers want the Parliament to discuss the issue of payment of their arrears-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

 By Dickson Odhiambo

February 25, 2019.

Sugarcane farmers want Parliament to discuss payment of their arrears. 

A NUMBER of sugarcane farmers across the country now want the Members of Parliament to immediately discuss the issue of paying them their arrears amounting to billions of shillings.

They say the issue of paying them their arrears by the National Government should be put in the order paper that should be part of what is to be discussed in Parliament but claiming that the issue had never been put as one of the issue of discussions in Parliament.

Addressing the press in Kisumu today after meeting of the National Sugarcane Farmers Taskforce, the farmers led by their chairman Saulo Busolo said it is high time the payment of their arrears be included in this financial Supplementary Budget and be discussed in Parliament.

They claim President Kenyatta had directed that the issue of paying sugarcane farmers arrears should be included in the Supplementary Budget and discussed then passed by Parliament.

Busolo who at one time served as a Member of Parliament for Webuye constituency say he has checked with the current Parliament but there is nothing in the order paper in terms of sugarcane farmers’ arrears.

“I used to be a member of parliament and I have checked in parliament and there is no agenda in the order paper in regard to the issue of payment of Sugarcane farmers’ arrears,” Busolo says.

The National Sugarcane Farmers Task force chair says the Government seems to have ignored the input of experts in the sugar industry.

He says the farmers have engaged the experts in the Sugar Industry so as to get their input as far as the issue of revival of the Sugar industry.

The farmers have resolved that they will present their recommendation through its taskforce to the President within a week’s time.

They have been collecting views among various stakeholders on the way forward towards the Sugar Industry in the county.

Among the issues the Sugarcane farmers want address include the need to scrap the regulation on Sugar Industry.

This, they want to be done through completely deregulating it by deletion of sugarcane from the first schedule of the Crops Act 2013.

The farmers have also resolved not to want the issue of zoning of sugarcane areas, adding that there is no merger of sugar factories and that the long delayed draft crops {Sugar} General Regulations be totally discarded.

The sugarcane farmers further want the issue of privatization of state owned sugar millers be completed and more active support for current and potential private investors.

“Farmers want as many sugar factories open and able to compete for their cane as possible to avoid a situation where they are tied to a mill that is unable to pay for or process their cane,” they say.

They further say they have suffered too long from the inefficiencies of the government owned mills and prefer dealing with the private sector.

“Those dealing with private millers had issues but no significant payment delays,” they say.

The farmers also say support is really needed to clear legal issues around Miwani, Busia and Ramisi and the Government organizations like the Kenya Revenue Authority and the Kenya Bureau of Standards hve farmers in mind when they close the sugar factories down or freeze their accounts.

They further want the issue of rampant corruption within the sugar industry be addressed, adding that they welcome the recent government’s decision to pay off the debts owned by the state owned sugar millers to sugarcane farmers but those who have been engaged in corruption within the Industry should not be left scot-free.

ENDS: