Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri is a man on a mission, a mission to deal with the so called “haters” that have contributed to the various scams that have hit his ministry.
After forming a task-force to probe the Sugar Mess in the country, the Agriculture boss has again made some revelations in his latest attempts to bring back sanity to the Sugar industry.
In his latest move, the CS has threatened to shut down non-performing sugar factories in the next six months.
According to Kiunjuri, the factories should be self-sustaining and be able to stand on their own without always relying on the government for financial help.
“If these factories cannot operate on their own I will have them shut down because we can’t continue pumping money to them yet there is nothing being done to change lives of millions of farmers who rely on sugarcane for survival,” he said on Tuesday in Bungoma county.
The CS, who was accompanied by his devolution counterpart Eugene Wamalwa during a tour of Nzoia sugar company, said that the state will be pay the factories’ debts for the last time as they sought a lasting solution to the financial woes facing the sector.
Kiunjuri’s latest suggestion will surely affect many Sugar industries from the Nyanza and Western Region should it be implemented. Sugar factories such as Mumias, Chemelil, Sony, Kibos Sugar, Trans Nzoia, Muhoroni and Miwani are some of the factories from the region that the government is closely monitoring.
Leaders from these areas have repeatedly asked the government to bail out these industries from the debts they are currently sunk in and a move to close them down will surely pit them in a war with the Agriculture CS.
The Agriculture CS eralier this month formed a task force to look into permanent ways of tackling the challenges facing the sugar sector.
The CS will co-chair the team with Kakamega governor Wycliff Oparanya. Other members are Governors Okoth Obado (Migori county governor), Anyang’ Nyong’o (Kisumu).
The team also includes Mrs Omondi, Bernard Otieno (Public millers), Patel Kobal (private millers), Ken Obao (private millers), and Carolyne (intergovernmental relations technical committee).
Patrick Omtia (governmental budget and economic council), Zakao Maraga (Agriculture ministry),Solomon Odera (Agriculture and food authority) Solomon Gitungu (Treasury) will also be part of the team.
Others are MP Emanuel Wangwe (Navakholo), Francis Waswa (Kenya sugar federation), and Mrs Lamenya (representing Attorney General).
The task force shall review the policy of the sugar industry, check on the emerging challenges facing the sugar industry, do research and review importation of sugar.
They will also undertake comparative analysis of the sugar industry, undertake an analysis of roles of stakeholders and how they can collaborate to develop the sugar sub sector.
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