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Saturday, May 27, 2023 – President William Ruto’s Government plan to import 180,000 tonnes of sugar has been met with resistance after millers questioned the directive.
While on a retreat in Kisumu, the millers converging under the umbrella of Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation and Allied Workers castigated the move noting that they had been sidelined.
They wondered why Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi did not prioritize them while issuing the directive on Wednesday.
“What we know from today’s government is that once a directive to import sugar is made, you will see it on the shelves being sold.”
“There is a need to ensure that the sugar importation is done by the millers and not any other person,” the millers stated.
The millers read sinister motives in Linturi’s directive to import cheap sugar into the country, saying the government could have deliberately created the shortage to allow some people to import the duty-free sugar.
The Union further stated that they were the only ones who understand the deficit in the market, so they were better poised to spearhead the importation process.
“We will also be able to regulate and make sure that the sugar being imported does not affect the locally available stock,” the millers added.
The millers further opposed the government’s directive to import the sugar outside the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) bloc.
They cast aspersions that importing out of COMESA put the country at risk of flooding the market with contaminated sugar.
Linturi had defended the move to import outside COMESA, noting that it was informed by the search for adequate availability.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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