Parliament set to debate explosive sugar report

Nairobi, Kenya: National Assembly's will this afternoon begin its debate on an explosive report tabled in the House yesterday on the crisis facing the sugar industry in Kenya.

Though the report does not directly indict individuals, but recommends far reaching actions against former management and board of the troubled Mumias Sugar Company (MSC), MP Benard Washiali has issue a notice seeking to amend the report to incriminate various individuals and block them from holding public office.

In the recommendations based on findings by the Agricultural committee chaired by Mohammed Noor, legislators want Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) held responsible for loss of Value Added Tax (VAT) amounting to Sh577 million through fictitious exports of sugar by MSC.

Also any officer from the board and management of MSC and KRA responsible for the fictitious exports between 2006 and 2012 be held to accountable for abuse of office.

They want the government to introduce landing certificates for transit sugar as a confirmation of physical exit to stop any dumping into the local market.

Interesting pointer to how sugar matters are a potential time bomb, the damming forensic report by KPMG is not part of the report' instead the committee recommends that company avails with immediate effect the final report to the National Assembly, since the independent report had a disclaimer.

"The government should establish a permanent inter-agency enforcement unit on sugar trade,which should enhance capacity to verify, scrutinize and monitor cross-border trade," reads part of the report recommendations.

The lawmakers are also pushing for the setting up of border patrols to eradicate sugar smuggling.

"The unit should draw memberships from Kenya Ports Authority (KRA),Public Health, Agriculture Fisheries and Food Authority(AFFA), Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBs), Kenya Police, KRA and any other relevant government," recommends the committee.

Further on the spot is KRA, the legislators want probe launched and action taken against it for clearing sugar companies without permit from sugar regulator - Kenya Sugar Board

The MPs are not willing to spare anyone and calls for the same penalty to face any company that imported sugar without a permit from the regulator and should also be banned from import and export business.

But even with this damming verdict, there is intense lobbying ahead of the afternoon debate to have Washiali's amendments implicating Governor Evans Kidero ( Nairobi) defeated.

The stakes are high as the MP seeks to make changes by introducing new paragraphs to compel government to recover from Dr Kidero the former Managing Director MSC, the lost Sh577 million VAT, which it could have realized had the company, presently in its deathbed made the exports.