Council of Governors wants privatisation of cane factories halted, seeks dialogue

The Chairperson, Privatisation Steering Committee Patricia Adala (left) and CEO of Privatisation Commission Solomon Kitungu during recent stakeholders' engagement meeting held at Chemelil Sugar Company. PHOTO BY: HEZRON OCHIEL.

The Council of Governors (CoG) now wants privatisation of sugar factories halted to allow for dialogue between national and county governments.

After unsuccessfully lobbying to have the management of sugar factories transferred to the county governments, CoG has now vowed to use the law to discredit the process, saying the current Privatisation Act is unconstitutional as it did not factor in the devolved governance system.

The county chiefs have expressed dissatisfaction with the ongoing process saying county governments play a crucial role in agriculture and must be at the centre of the privatisation process.

In a meeting, which brought together governors from the cane growing areas in Kisumu yesterday, the county chiefs said the ongoing privatisation process was inconsistent with the Constitution.

They said leaving out the county governments from the process may further damage the industry, which has been in crisis.

Governors Okoth Obado (Migori), Jack Ranguma (Kisumu) and Paul Chepkwony (Kericho) and representatives from Bungoma, Kakamega, Vihiga and Busia attended the meeting, which was meant to ratify proposals from previous CoG deliberations on the process.

In a statement read to the press by Mr Ranguma after a closed-door meeting, the governors said that agriculture was a devolved function and milling was just part of the production chain, hence the factories needed to be directly transferred to the county governments.

"The manner in which the sugar industry has previously been managed has been painful for the communities from the sugar cane farming regions and any restructuring and privatisation within this devolution context must focus on giving these communities, through their county governments, an opportunity to manage and develop the sugar industry," read the statement.

They said the current laws under which the commission operates are outdated and were rendered unconstitutional after the inauguration of the 2010 Constitution.

The governors said cane farming was linked to functions of the county government, which include the maintenance of the access roads used by factory trucks to collect cane.

"Although the Privatisation Act was reviewed after the enactment of the new Constitution, it remains inconsistent with devolved systems of governance. The Privatisation Commission is therefore, not excised from its responsibility to discharge its functions in a manner that respects the devolved systems of governance," read the statement.

Mr Obado accused the commission of coaching farmers to embrace the privatisation process in a scheme to kill the industry.

He said the national and county governments must dialogue on the matter as the factories would be revenue sources for counties should the privatisation be conducted in consultation.