By Robert Wanyonyi
The Provincial Administration in western Kenya has moved in to tame rampant cane theft that has hit the region.
During a meeting with millers at the Provincial Administration offices in Kakamega, new guidelines were released to regulate the industry that had seen a rise in criminal activities as millers battle for raw material.
The meeting at the PC’s offices brought together managers from Mumias, Nzoia, West Kenya, and Butali Sugar companies.
Among the resolutions is that a miller wishing to harvest cane in a rival’s zone is first required to submit a list of farmers targeted to ascertain whether such farmers are contracted elsewhere.
Opposed proposals
“With such proposals, cases of cane theft will be a thing of the past although some competitors were opposed to them,” said Nzoia Sugar Company Managing Director Saul Wasilwa.
Wasilwa regretted recent skirmishes in Busia County in Mumias Sugar Company zone in which two people were killed, a tractor burnt and property worth millions of shillings destroyed.
“We are hoping the Provincial Administration and the industry regulator, the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) will ensure that sugar companies operate within the law,” urged Wasilwa.
He announced that Nzoia Sugar Company (NSC) has, in a period of only one year, recovered stolen cane worth Sh8 million, money, which the firm has already paid back to the affected farmers contrary to earlier claims that the monies were being put in private accounts.
Aggressors
Mumias Sugar Company (MSC) Managing Director Peter Kebati advised cane farmers against being enticed with “quick-win” situation preached by millers engaged in cane theft. He said sugar companies like MSC and NSC have pumped millions of shillings into cane development.?
“Some people might want to portray us as the aggressors, but we have valid contracts with our farmers, which cane thieves want to overlook and we have to move in and ensure our investment is protected at all costs,” said Kebati.
The Kenya Sugar Plantations and Allied Workers Union National Chairman Macdonald Wamacho accused KSB of failing in its duty and called on its officials to resign.
Mr Wamacho said KSB has kept silent even with revelations of unlicensed millers causing unnecessary fracas in the sugar belt.
“We will mobilise farmers and workers to reject KSB because its officials are engaged in questionable dealings as unlicensed millers desperate to justify their existence continue to break the law in a bid to illegally squeeze their rivals out of the market. This habit is unacceptable,” said Wamacho.
