Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri has threatened to shut down non-performing sugar factories in the next six months.
Kiunjuri said that the factories should be self-sustaining and be able to stand on their own without always relying on the government for financial help.
"If these factories cannot operate on their own I will have them shut down because we can't continue pumping money to them yet there is nothing being done to change lives of millions of farmers who rely on sugarcane for survival," he said on Tuesday in Bungoma county.
The CS, who was accompanied by his devolution counterpart Eugene Wamalwa during a tour of Nzoia sugar company, said that the state will be pay the factories’ debts for the last time as they sought a lasting solution to the financial woes facing the sector.
Others present during the tour included Bungoma governor Wycliffe Wangamati, Kakamega senator Cleophas Malala, Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe, company chairman Joash Wamangol and managing director Michael Kulundu.
The CS called for an audit of all financial books in state-owned factories and identify genuine farmers who will be paid for their cane and eliminate ghost suppliers.
"Farmers work hard the whole year only for their hard earned cash to go to a few corrupt people. For how long will they suffer in the hands of a few individuals?" Kiunjuri posed.
The CS said he will rein on cartels who have destroyed the country’s sugar and maize sectors.
"If it’s the board or state officials that are bad let them be removed, if it’s the management that is bad let them be shown the door," he said.
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