Let’s dismantle cartels inflating sugar prices

The admission by the regulator that cartels are inflating sugar prices is unfortunate. This indicts the Agriculture Fisheries and Foods Authority (AFFA) for failing to rein in individuals and firms making sugar production in Kenya the most uncompetitive in the region.

Kenyan consumers are paying a third more over the factory-gate prices. Now AFFA wants the Competition Authority of Kenya to come in and sort out the mess, by tracking the distribution chain to determine whether the value addition in transporting the commodity from the factory to the retail outlets is actually commensurate with the mark-up.