Debate on the Sugar Bill deferred

Parliament has deferred debate on the Sugar Bill 2019, which President Yoweri Museveni returned for reconsideration.
Debate on the Bill was due to start during the plenary sitting on Tuesday, 30 April 2019 following presentation of the reports from the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industries last week.
Following guidance from the Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah, who chaired the House, the Government Chief Whip, Hon Ruth Nankabirwa requested the House for more time to consult further on the bill.
Oulanyah granted government one month for the consultations.  Earlier, Oulanyah said there was a loss in translation concerning how the Bill would affect the sugar industry especially the sugarcane growers.
He added that the original Bill proposed zoning in sugar for the new producers, which would not affect the already established industries.
Quoting the original Bill, the Deputy Speaker said that section 22 provided for a radius of 25 kilometres within which a  new miller would not be licensed.  
He added that, “In clause 32, it stated that those sugar mills or juggleries that were already in existence and operational in the zone or radius less than 25 kilometres before passing the law were not to be affected or denied a license.”
 “The intention of the Bill was to regulate the new industries that were intending to start and not affect those that are already established. However, we read too much into the bill and imported our own interests into it, ” he said.
 “I received many petitions in form of letters from sugarcane growers and industries on this matter because in our discussions we moved away from the original policy to things that jeopardise their interest which was initially protected by the Bill,” Oulanyah added.  
President Museveni returned the Sugar Bill to Parliament saying it did not address the concerns of the established big millers noting that allowing small producers would distort the sugar industry.
The President advocated for zoning, which is the allocation of a specific area of sugar cane production to a specific miller.
The committee on Trade in its latest report recommended that small producers should not be allowed within 25km of a big miller. There were however, dissenting MPs on the committee who were against zoning.