- Sarbjit is accusing his brother of orchestrating his predicament complete with negative publicity taking centre stage.
- Jaswant, on the other hand, through his communications department, maintains that he is best placed to run and manage the affairs of Mumias Sugar Company.
Image: FILE
The battle to control management of Mumias Sugar Company pitting the Rai brothers, Jaswant Singh Rai of Rai Group and Sarbjit Rai of Sarrai Group, has taken an ugly twist.
Sarbjit is accusing his brother of orchestrating his predicament complete with negative publicity taking centre stage.
He charges that a malicious scheme to taint him as incapable to operate the sugar firm was initiated by Jaswant Rai whom he says does not want to see the giant miller roaring back into life as his main agenda is to monopolise the sugar industry in Kenya.
Jaswant, on the other hand, through his communications department, maintains that he is best placed to run and manage the affairs of Mumias Sugar Company.
However, emerging facts are that currently the Jaswant-owned Rai Group controls more than 40 per cent of the country’s sugar production and market supplies, with the driving force not being just to control the sugar industry but to completely monopolise it.
The fact of the matter is that Jaswant has four sugar factories in Kenya - West Kenya Sugar/Kabras Millers in Malava subcounty, Kakamega county, Sukari Industries of Ndhiwa in Homabay county, Olepito Sugar at Tangakona in Busia county and the latest entrant Naitiri Sugar in Bungoma county.
However, it seems these are not enough for Sarrai Group.
The group, in its supremacy wars, used the Olepito site under Mumias Sugar zone to unleash a sugarcane poaching spree crisis from Mumias farmers and other millers.
This literally ground sugarcane farming to a halt, leaving the only ultra-modern miller with no sugarcane and saddled with a more than Sh3 billion debt to cane farmers alone.
With all these sugar factories, the Jaswant Group still wants take over Mumias Sugar. Its first open attempt to take over the firm was rejected by Ponangipalli Rao who was the company's receiver manager.
With the rejection, Rao clearly said that if the bid was awarded to the Jaswant Group, it would amount to establishing monopoly position as the group owns all the above mentioned sugar companies in Kenya alone.
The Sarbi team owns Kinyara Sugar, Kiryandongo Sugar and Hoima — all in Uganda under Sarrai Group and each boasting of success stories. It is from this background that the receiver manager developed confidence in Sarbi and was able to determine his ability to run Mumias Sugar, hence awarding him a 20-year lease.
This saw the sugar firm roar back to life after nearly 10 years after being consigned to limbo.
It must not be forgotten that the defunct Kenya Sugar Board, based on the same reasons in 2011, rejected Jaswant Group’s application to set up a factory in Busia.
This was on the grounds that it had a functional one in Malava in Kakamega county and holding an operating license for Bilibili site in Bungoma county with no factory constructed.
What Kenyans must know is that Kenya Commercial Bank, Treasury and Ministry of Agriculture had earlier invited Sarrai Group to come Kenya to revive Mumias having seen its capacity to deliver after visits to their three sugar factories in Uganda.
In 2016, Jaswant Group acquired the once vibrant Panpaper Mills in Webuye, Bungoma county, at a throw away price of Sh900 million, duping the people of western Kenya and Bungoma to be precise that they were going to revive it only to turn it into a godown.
The group wants to dominate the sugar sector and what Kenyans, especially the sugarcane farmers, may not know is that it will no longer be interested in sugarcane development immediately the group succeeds to take over Mumias Sugar, instead, it will embark fully on sugar importation.
In 2018, the group’s Rai Paper Mill, formerly Panpaper in Webuye, was raided by the DCI and illegal Sugar worth Sh250 million impounded.
The people of Western region whose economic backbone has always been sugarcane farming should therefore keenly follow these developments to see whether the government shall succumb to the pressure mounted by Jaswant to kick Sarrai out of Mumias Sugar.
These are just a few of the reasons why President Ruto, though he promised to make changes at Mumias during the last general election campaigns, must not do so because it will be consigning Mumias Sugar to oblivion.