BY JEFF OTIENO

RECEIVER MANAGERS CORNERED.

Muhoroni and Miwani joint receiver managers Martin Owiti and Kipngetich K Bett are under siege from enraged farmers and workers who are alleging that their tenure has worsened the fortunes of the two ailing sugar millers instead of resuscitating them as earlier envisaged.

The furious farmers and workers are further accusing the area MP Prof Ayiecho Olweny for siding and lobbying for the retention of the two managers whom they described as ‘under performing and hefty in expenditure.’

During last weeks’ visit by directors from the Kenya Sugar Board it emerged that intense lobbying to retain the duo was the hallmark of everything.

It is interesting and imperative to note that the moribund Muhoroni Sugar Company posted a staggering Ksh338 million in profits last year yet this year there is a dramatic turn around of a whopping loose totaling to Ksh67 million. “Was it a deliberate mechanism by the two receiver managers to hoodwink the government so as to maintain the status quo,” the farmers wondered in a terse statement to the press.

For starters Kipngetich K Bett is a member of Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC ) advisory board thus adding speculation as to the level of conflict of interest to scrutinize the corruption plagued outfit, to the chagrin of farmers who have not been paid their dues totaling to millions and with nobody in sight to lean on.

Some time last year, a tractor belonging to Muhoroni Sugar Company was auctioned in dubious circumstances and later sold to a Kisumu-based lawyer who runs their errands. The tractor in question is currently contracted to Kibos Sugar Factory to transport sugarcane. The alleged sale was done under the pretext of settling an imaginary legal fee the company owed attorneys on court battle in Nyando.

Impeccable sources in the sugar fraternity confided to this journalist that the privatization of the moribund Muhoroni Sugar now hangs in the balance owing to what many stakeholders in the industry attribute to inept management mechanism and lack of goodwill for the two managers whom they accuse of high-handedness and inaccessible.

Stakeholders from the sugar industry are also casting doubts on the future of the two ailing sugar firms which they say would remain on the deathbed unless the current managers are shown the door.

Sources within the Kenya Sugar Board who spoke to this writer on condition of anonymity intimated that the board was sharply divided over the maneuvers by a clique some members who are said to have been compromised by the receiver managers.

“Majority of the board is of the view that the receiver managers should pack and go but a final decision will be made in due course in liaison with the ministry of Agriculture,” said the source.

ENDS

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Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:01:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: JEFF
Subject: RECEIVER MANAGERS UNDER SIEGE