MP Koyoo calls for action against sugar smugglers

 

Cane growers from Kisumu county have demanded swift action against unscrupulous traders importing cheap illegal sugar into the country.

Led by Muhoroni MP Onyango Koyoo and Kenya Sugarcane Growers Association secretary-general Richard Ogendo, they alleged that some companies are posing as legitimate businesses to smuggle sugar.

They urged the government to take the sugar industry as seriously as it has taken the tea sector.

The leaders listed 10 companies they suspected of importing sugar illegally.

“These companies should provide their three-year audited statements of accounts and KRA tax clearance certificates,” Koyoo said.

The MP said the companies were registered not more than a year ago but have been allowed to import sugar into the county.

He criticised the government for allowing duty-free importation of sugar as cane farmers and workers suffer from the slump in the industry.

The lawmaker said massive sugar importation was killing local production and endangering cane farmers’ livelihoods.

Koyoo urged the government to come up with requisite legislation to bail out the sector.

He wondered whether Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya had lifted an active ban on importation of duty-free sugar into the country.

Koyoo urged the DCI to investigate why companies registered in May and June last year have been allowed to import sugar without following due process.

He claimed that some selfish politicians have also raided the sugar sector to make quick money.

The government, he said, should come up with short-term grants before leasing of five sugar companies to pay farmers and workers their pending dues.

Koyoo said there is no provision for sugar coming in after the Comesa grace period has lapsed.

“I would want to challenge the relevant government agencies to quickly swing into action and establish the origin of these sugar imports and those behind their imports. This is a contradiction from the required process in importation business,” Koyoo said.

He pledged to petition the National Assembly Committee on Agriculture to investigate the source of the sugar flooding the local market.

“The ultimate solution should be that which benefits the farmer, the miller and workers in the industry and not people with high appetite for money who have flooded the sugar importation business,” he said.

Koyoo said some sugar barons were out to derail the sector reforms already jump-started by the government.

“We are confident that the reforms agenda will restore economic fortunes in the sugar industry. But we urge for caution against the cartels who don’t mean well for the sector,” he said.

The MP said that the revival of the industry was critical in the growth of the country’s economy.

He reiterated that poor management and dilapidated machinery at the state-owned sugar mills was to blame for their collapse.

“We want the government to give sugar issues a deserving attention in order to improve the many livelihoods that depend on the sector,” he said.

Ogendo questioned why there was rampant importation of sugar yet there is a ban in place.

He urged the Kenya Revenue Authority to go for companies importing sugar in the country duty-free.

“We have realised that these said companies were cleared by government agencies,” he said.

He demanded that action be taken against officers who cleared the companies to import some 57,000 metric tonnes of sugar illegally.

“We want to bring an amendment that going forward importation of sugar must be subjected to public participation and companies that are awarded must be published in local dailies,” Ogendo said.