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Bernice Mbugua @Bernice Muhindi

Activist Okiya Omtatah has moved to court seeking to have Ponangipalli  Venkata Ramana Rao removed as the Receiver Manager of Mumias Sugar Company Limited.

Omtatah wants Rao removed by Kenya Commercial Bank, which put the miller under receivership, on grounds that he is conflicted and incompetent in running the company.

“I seek a declaration that the KCB Bank Kenya Limited, the Receiver which appointed him, has an obligation to remove him to protect the public interest in the Mumias Sugar Scheme,” Omtatah states in court documents.

He argues that on June 9, 2021, the Senate’s Agriculture Committee, which was looking into the affairs of the troubled miller, directed Rao to, within 14 days , re-advertise the bid to salvage the company.

When he was summoned to the Senate, Rao disclosed that he had invited eight investors.

The companies include Catalysis Group of Russia, Sarrai Group of Uganda, Kruman Associates (France), Kibos Sugar and Devki Group, which are both from Kenya, Premier JV (India), Third Gate Capital Management and Godavari Enterprises (India).

“None of the eight bidders he secretly invited to bid had the capacity to revive the company, leading to fears that a plan was underway to dispose the company off to Rao’s cronies for a song,” he says in court documents.

Omtatah (pictured) claims that Rao was recently exposed that, while serving as the Receiver Manager of Kwale Sugar Company, he sold scrap metal to Devki Steel Millers.

“This is the very company which recently mounted major public relations offensive in the media designed to create the impression that the Receiver Manager had recruited it as the strategic investor to revive Mumias Sugar Company, and that it was going to invest some Sh5 billion in the venture,” he says in court documents.

Omtatah claims he is aggrieved that close to two years after taking over,  Rao had not published a general statement of affairs on the assets and liabilities of the company as at the time he took over.

“He has not made known the efforts he has taken to protect the assets of the company and the interests of investors (including farmers), creditors, and other parties,” he argues.

Omtatah states that the receiver manager had failed in his mission to protect the company’s assets and, to the best extent, maintain its operations. Instead, he says, he had completely shut down the company.