from : Leo Odera Omolo Jul 22
date Jul 22, 2009 4:42 PM
subject MINISTER RUTO IS ACCUSED OF PRACTISING NEPOTISM AT CHEMELIL SUGAR FIRM

MINISTER RUTO IS ACCUSED OF PRACTISING NEPOTISM IN THE APPOINTMENT OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS AT THE CHEMELIL SUGAR COMPANY LTD IN NYANZA

Investigative REPORT By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

THE minister for Agriculture, William Ruto, has come under scathing criticism for allegedly having flooded the board of directors at the government owned Chemelil Sugar Company Ltd with his own Nandis kith and kin.

The allegations that the Minister is practicing naked clanism by influencing the appointment of his kins at the sugar facility were first fired at the weekend by the area MP Prof. P.Ayiecho Olueny, who is also an Assistant Minister for Education.

Out of ten board members, four of them, including his own brother, are from the Nandi sub-tribe and all hail from Eldoret region; not even from the larger Kalenjin ethnic group, but exclusively from the Nandis, a sub-tribe of the Kalenjin group.

It is worthy mentioning that Minister Ruto and the Chemelil Sugar Company were activists during the operations of the of the KY 92 and this could be the reason the Minister appointed his relatives to head the facility, denying many experienced applicants the lucrative job.

And as if to add insult to injury, the composition of the management team is reflecting the worst type of tribalism being practiced by Minister Ruto at the sugar facility which is based in Muhuroni district, in the Nyanza sugar belt. The farmers want the Ministers activities with the Nyanza sugar zone, where he is alleged to be a frequent visitor, to be investigated.

Ten members of the Board of Directors include Dr. Simeon Mining Chairman [Kalenjin}, the managing director Eng Edward Musebe {Luhyia} Peter Kemei, the Company Secretary [Kalenjin}, Mr Protus Sigei [Kalenjin}, Mr.Daniel Rono {Kalenjin}, Mr Jeremiah Ruto{Kalenjin} and the Minister’s real brother. All the five are the appointees of the Minister Ruto.

There are, however, five other members of the Board who represent special interests such as Finance, Agricuture, Co-operative Ministries and an institutional bank and other Ministries as alternate directors to the Permanent Secretaries. They include Mrs Anne Anyango [Luo], Victor Kidiwa{Luo}, Hon. Konchalleh [Boran} and Eng Patrick Obath [Luhiya}.

There is not even one single Luo director representing t he farmer’s interests. The majority of sugar cane farmers arguably are the Luos, followed by the Nandi, Kipsigis, Asians and others.

The issue is boiling up and has already raised political temperature in the area with the local farmers contemplating stopping the supply of their row cane to the Chemelil Sugar factory.

The company’s secretariat, the number of Kalenjins holding key managerial positions have surpassed all other tribes combined.

The pact is headed by Human Resources Manager Mrs Jacinta Kipkering [Kalenjin] Mr Stanley Kipkoech, the Marketing , Corporate. and Communication Manager [Kalenjin}, John Muchama [Kisii],Charles Owelle Agricultura Manager Production[Luo}, Albert Aki Agricultural Manager Farmers Services [Luhya].

The middle class management positions are still evenly spread to nearly all Kenyan communities, though the Kalenjin have a lion’s share.

Meanwhile sugarcane farmers with the Chemelil and other sugar growing zones in Nyanza have called upon the two principals in the grand coalition government, President Mwai Kibaki and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga to reshuffle the cabinet immediately and remove Mr. Ruto and his PS Dr.Koome with immediate effect and replace Ruto with someone who is totally committed to salvage the ailing sugar industry sub-sector.

The farmers have also appealed to the President to revoke all the board’s appointment in the Ministry of Agriculture and declare them null and void in the interest of unity and cohesion as well as peaceful co-existence.

Mr. Ruto, the second Deputy leader of the ODM, who is also believed to be nursing presidential ambition has proved himself to be practicing the worst tribalism wile giving lip-service to Kenyans.

The farmers said they don’t need someone not fit to hold such important public office as the Ministry in charge of food production n in the country.

One spokesman of the Chemelil farmers said Ruto lacked the capacity and the ability of turning the lucrative sugar industry from perennial massive loses to profitability. As such, he should be shuffled and sent to a lesser important Ministry.

The composition of the board of directors of the Chemelil Sugar Company, which is located in Muhoroni district, speaks volume and tells Kenyan of what a government headed by Mr. Ruto as the President would look like.

For many years, the late Senator Selemiah Mbeo Onyango was a director at the facility for close to twenty years, but he died in 2007 and thereafter, no Luo has ever been appointed a director at the facility.

The Luos who were previously holding key managerial positions in the tea industries, which are located in Nandi Hills and Kericho region were all forcefully ejected from their jobs and replaced by the locals. “Why then import the Kalenjins all the way from Eldoret to come and dominate all the important posts in an industry , which is located inside Luoland?”, asked Mr Martin Oyier, a cane farmer in Muhoroni.

ENDS