Mumias Sugar Company woes worsen as farmers protest

Mumias Sugar Company managing director Nashon Aseka

Mumias Sugar Company woes continue to deepen as sugarcane growers on Friday staged a protest demanding their pay arrears.

Hundreds of farmers held peaceful demonstrations through Shibale trading centre all the way to the factory precincts, demanding over Sh900 million arrears.

They accused the company’s management of reneging on an earlier pledge to clear the arrears that have accumulated for the past two years.

The firm’s managing director, Nashon Aseka, was at pains to explain to the angry farmers why the company was unable to pay them, despite having received over Sh3.1 billion from the national government.

The farmers pitched tent outside the factory’s gate even after Mr Aseka had addressed them.

“Farmers need to be paid to re-invest in sugarcane production. It is unfair for the company to continue withholding the money for deliveries made over 24 months ago,” said Simon Wesechere from the Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers.

Financial obligations

However, Aseka said Sh500 million the company received recently from the Government was too little compared to what farmers are asking for.

“The money is too little, however, we are in the process of paying farmers. So far, 800 of them have been paid their dues,” he told journalists.

He said the ailing sugar firm could reopen later this month after the ongoing factory maintenance.

Last month, the company’s board chairman Kennedy Mulwa said they would need more than Sh6 billion to effectively meet the factory’s financial obligations.

Mulwa said an in-depth market analysis would be conducted to ensure the company makes maximum profits from the sugar it will import and rebrand.

Agriculture CS Willy Bett had said Mumias Sugar and other ailing state-owned milling firms could be allowed to import and sell repacked sugar to cushion them from financial difficulties.