The high court on Thursday temporarily stopped the importation of duty-free sugar in the country.
Justice Chacha Mwita suspended the Gazette notice issued by the Treasury CS Henry Rotich dated September 29 allowing the importation of duty-free sugar.
Justice Mwita further prohibited the CS or any other person from proceeding to give effect to the said Gazette Notice pending hearing and determination of the case.
In the case, activist Okiya Omtatah moved to court challenging a gazette notice issued on October 4 allowing the importation of duty-free sugar.
Omtatah argues that the waiver on duty charged on imported sugar has exposed the local sugar industry.
He further says that the application seeks to protect the public from the oppressive and unreasonable punishment prescribed under the impugned statutory instrument.
“The waiver is arbitrarily imposed without public participation involving all stakeholders, including the affected local sugar industry,” Omtatah argues.
The activist further says that if the importation of the duty-free sugar is allowed, it will complicate matters for the hundreds of thousands of sugarcane farmers and workers in sugar factories across the country.
“There is no sugar shortage to warrant the decision to allow the importation of duty-free sugar,” he adds.
According to Omtatah, the impugned gazette notice does not set a limit of the quantities of sugar to be imported duty fee given that it is supposed to be a stop-gap measure.
“Without capping the amount of duty-free sugar to be imported, the three months period allowed under the impugned notice is enough to swamp the local market with so much sugar that the local industry will die, the petition reads.
Omtatah says that he is convinced that this is a corruption deal that will destroy and kill the sugar industry in Kenya.
“There is no doubt that the duty waiver on Sugar imports is discriminatory, oppressive unreasonable, counterproductive and has not been validly declared and therefore is invalid, null and void.” He claims.
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He further argues that over the years Kenya sugar industry had been destroyed through such importation and dumping of duty-free sugar on the local market.
He says that the duties imposed on sugar are intended to protect the struggling local industry from sugar produced Cheaply elsewhere and to raise revenue for the government including for the realization of the rights secured in Article 43 of the Constitution.
This temporary order is a big blow to sugar barons and sugar factories who don't have their own nuclear cane to provide raw materials to run factories on a daily basis.
The case will be heard on November 14.
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