Governors call for land audit as privatisation begins afresh

Governors from western Kenya want the identity of landowners contacted in the sugar belt made public ahead of the planned privatisation of four millers.

The county bosses argue that because the Government only controls the nucleus farms, owners of the rest of the vast belt, stretching from Bungoma on Uganda border to Migori near Tanzania, should be made public if the interests of the common farmer are to be prioritised in the sell-off.

Nucleus farms

They further said in a statement that the Government does not fully own nucleus farms in some of the factories because influential individuals have grabbed some sections.

The governors, who have opposed the sale of Nzoia, Chemelil and Muhoroni sugar factories to strategic investors, also want what the Government owns surrendered back to the community.

Under the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) chaired by Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o, the governors said making public what private individuals own was crucial to mapping the challenges dogging the sugar industry.

Migori Governor Okoth Obado, who chairs the Council of Governors Agriculture committee, said this was the only way to establish what the private millers own.

This would further help in amalgamating smallholders into blocks to facilitate commercialisation for a boost in productivity.

The Government imported more sugar in November last year than it has ever shipped in in a single year.

“We cannot say that we are privatising the millers together with the land yet we do not even know who owns that land,” argued Mr Obado.

He said in Muhoroni and Chemelil for example the “Government only owns 16 per cent of the land.”

Unanimous vote

In a unanimous vote, governors from more than 13 counties forming the LREB slammed breaks on privatisation to have thorny issues ironed out before allowing the Privatisation Commission to sell off the factories to strategic investors.

They called for fresh consultations at individual miller levels and intergovernmental talks between the two levels of Government.

This, they said, was the only sure way of ensuring the interest of farmers are addressed and the burning legal and policy questions on the process resolved.