Local leaders from Western sugar belt have joined farmers in condemning illegal importation of sugar and now want President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene to save the sector.
The local leaders drawn from Kakamega county assembly claimed some unscrupulous individuals and traders flooded the region with illegal imports days before the custom window was opened last week.
On Friday last week, the government issued a go ahead allowing for importation of sugar to boost local supply.
In a statement on Tuesday, the assembly’s leaders stated that Western Sugar belt has the potential of producing enough sugar for local consumption terming the move to import the commodity ill advised.
They claimed the importation risks plunging the troubled sector into a worse crisis and will kill local industries.
They were led by Kakamega County Deputy Speaker Leonard Kasaya.
He noted the trouble sinking local sugar industries in the region can be traced to illegal importation of sugar from Uganda.
“This unchecked sugar importation will ground the companies further,” Kasaya said.
The MCAs further noted that most of the sugar companies owe farmers huge amounts of money which they are unable to settle because locally manufactured sugar is lying in stores while cheap sugar imports have flooded the market with some being repackaged and rebranded as local sugar.
The leaders now want President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Ministry of Agriculture to intervene through the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA) to save the farmers.
On Sunday, sugarcane stakeholders from the region demanded action from AFFA on reports of unlicensed and illegal sugar imports in the region.
The farmers, millers claim there have been incidences of unlicensed importation of sugar from neighboring Uganda.
The stakeholders expressed fear that the illegal sugar has already flooded markets in Western and Nyanza regions.
They cited Bungoma, Mukenya, Masbrago, New Adatia, Mahdhav, Kiminini, Wananchi Stores, Super Store Minimax, Misiku, Kitale, Charangani and Jaralam are some of the areas the imports can be traced to.
