Lawmakers from the sugar belt have issued tough ultimatums they want met before the State-run sugar factories are revitalised and commercialised.

Legislators ended the discussion on the way forward on the revival of the firms by insisting that the proposed leasing of the factories shouldn’t go beyond 20 years.
They were Walter Owino (Awendo), John Odanga (Matayos), Peter Salasya (Mumias East) and Justice Kemei (Soin/Sigowet).

The government plans to either lease or revitalize the firms to make them more vibrant and/or profitable. Currently, all the firms are operating at a loss, adding little or no value to the national economy.

Forerunning overhead cost of production, accruing debts which currently stand at Sh128 billion, Sh65 billion development loans, Sh1.7 billion debt owed to workers and farmers arrears running into billions were identified as causes of the woes.

In their submission to the National Assembly joint committees on Finance and Agriculture chairmen Kuria Kimani and John Mutunga respectively in Kisumu at the weekend, the MPs urged the government to write off the Sh128 billion debt choking the sugar factories.

“These historical debts have made the projected growth of the sugar industry a pipe dream for decades,” claimed Owino.

Odanga asserted that cane farmers and the industry stakeholders have waited for years for the debts to be cleared in vain, despite the sector’s immense contribution to the national agricultural Gross Domestic Product. (GDP).

“Each general election cycle, the sugar sector politics have been featuring with a promise to revive the mills in vain. We hope this time, the State is serious from actions we are seeing happening,” said Odanga.

The sugar industry in Kenya contributes about 15 percent to the agricultural GDP and 2.75 percent of National GDP, besides providing direct and indirect employment to more than eight million people in the sugar belt, which, the MPs said shouldn’t be ignored.

The MPs also told the government that if they want the factories leased as was proposed in the National Sugar Task Force, then they must state who the strategic investors would be for them to be thoroughly vetted by industry experts to keep sugar cartels at bay.

The State has options to either lease the firms or by offloading their share ratios to the public through initial public offering, albeit only after clearing their dirty balance sheet to make them relevant and attractive to new investors.

“This is why, we insist that the debt portfolios be cleared, including that owed to farmers and workers and suppliers or creditors arrears before new investors move in,” said Owino.
Odanga, Salasya, Owino and Kemei said they will not allow new investors to lease the firms before the issues raised are rationalised.

Kimani team has two weeks to report their findings and suggestions to revitalize the industry as part of renewed commitment by President William Ruto Bottom up Economic Transformation Agenda (Beta).

Already, the sugar Directorate has developed Miwa Bora App as part of efforts to revive the industry.
The App will enable farmers to access approved and localised information conveniently from the KALRO Sugar Research Institute through their mobile handsets.

Kimani assured the industry leaders that they will table their recommendations to the assembly for action.