• On Wednesday, county trade executive Alfred Matianyi said that the receiver manager P.V. Ramana Rao was the company's legal person and its assets.
• Some residents have invaded sections of the12,000-hectare Mumias nucleus estate and planted crops.
The Kakamega government has distanced itself from the invasion of sections of the idle Mumias Sugar Company nucleus estate.
On Wednesday, Trade executive Alfred Matianyi said receiver manager P.V. Ramana Rao was the company's legal person and its assets.
“The national government is the one that leased the land to Mumias in the early 1970s and not the county government. Mumias still exists despite the challenges it faces and it’s the right entity to deal with this matter.
“The national government still holds the shares in Mumias and we shall be very happy when it gives us the shares. However, as of now, the county remains a stranger to the company,” Matianyi said.
Some residents have invaded sections of the 12,000-hectare nucleus estate and planted crops. They police said they could not charge them as there was no official complaint about the invasion.
The invasion by the residents has raised fears that it could be part of a bigger plan by influential people to grab the land.
Rao has remained silent over the matter and he neither answers calls nor respond to text messages seeking his comment. He had earlier said the company had started rehabilitating the nucleus in readiness to resume cane crushing.
However, Matianyi said no one could change ownership of the land from Mumias.
“Someone may ask residents to use the land but they cannot process change of ownership because it’s Mumias that has the titles,” he said.
Matianyi said the receiver manager was to protect the troubled company's assets and advise on its revival.
The company stopped milling sugar over two years ago and the nucleus estate has remained idle, with some residents using it as a grazing field.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has been pushing for the revival of the company and at one point deployed county enforcement officers at the factory to guard its assets against vandalism.
He has in recent months met with investors keen on taking over the company and reviving it. A year ago, he appointed a task force to come up with the best ways of reviving the company but its recommendations remain unimplemented.
Last year, Oparanya announced that his administration would spend Sh100 million for cane development.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris