Illegal sugar imports bank-rolling Al Shabaab

Money from illegal sugar imports from Somalia is allegedly bank-rolling activities of the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab.

The militia has been causing death on Kenyan soil, in what the group says is retaliation for the Kenya Defence Forces' continued stay in Somalia.

A truck driver with knowledge of the illegal trade says the cash generated from sugar imports is helping fund the group.

Apparently, the illegal trade, which extends to other commodities, has also seen corrupt-free law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty for allegedly refusing to accept bribes from the sugar cartels.

Al-Shabaab still controls parts of Somalia and charges a levy of up to Sh26,000 for every truck ferrying sugar from the Indian Ocean port to the Kenyan border.

Mr Hassan (not his real name), told The Standard that he was hired as a truck driver in 2010 by a wealthy trader in Kismayo, who he only knew as Mr NK.

"We would pay Al-Shabaab Sh26,000 for every 10-wheeler truck on each trip; this would add up to a huge amount," he says, admitting that he also made a fortune while at it.

He estimates that NK paid more than Sh15 million every month or Sh180 million a year. He acknowledged that there were other traders like NK.

Typically, NK would send 300,000 bags from go-downs in Kismayo destined for Kenya every month. The same sugar would then be smuggled across the border and transported through minor roads and end up in major towns like Wajir and Garissa.

Cane millers like Mumias have in the recent past complained of counterfeit sugar packaged and sold in their branded bags.

Considering the amount of other products that enter Kenya through the common border with Somalia, it would be easy to determine how much more Al-Shabaab could be receiving from commodities smuggled into the country.

The situation has been complicated by Kenya's decision to close its borders with Somalia in 2007, which effectively closed the doors to legitimate cross-border business.

Kenya had hoped that closing the border would choke funding for the group, but the experiences of people like Hassan suggest that the move did not achieve much.

The UN reports that the militants are getting substantial funding from the trade in ivory, another multi-billion shilling industry that has seen the elephant population in Kenya diminish at an alarming rate.

MPs from northern Kenya now want the cross-border business opened. "I know and everyone else knows that there are corrupt security officials, KRA and Immigration officers who take advantage of this alleged closure of the border to allow the smuggling of goods," Wajir South MP Abdullahi Diriye said last week.

He argues by opening the borders, Kenya would collect taxes on imported products, unlike now when only unscrupulous businessmen and Al-Shabaab benefit.

Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi said there is huge business in contraband, which legitimate traders and the Government could gain from.