Special Report By Leo Odera Omolo In Awendo Town.
Tension is building up between the three white sugar factories located in Southern Nyanza following the reported rampant theft the scarce raw materials, namely harvested cane in the field by seemingly well organized cartel unscrupulous trader turned criminals.
Tension is between the well-and long established Awendo-based SonySugar Company, the newly established Sukari Industries based in Ndhiwa district, and also the recently commissioned Trans-Mara Sugar Company, based in Tans-Mara district in the South Rift region of the Rift Valley Province.
What had started as simple cane poaching between the three sugar mills has since developed to a full-scale war and calls for the government urgent intervention to bring the confrontation to an immediate end? It is generally feared that if the situation is allowed to continue as it is today, Kenya may soon experience another acute shortage of sugar.
The situation is so pathetic to an extent that it now threatening to disrupt peace as it has became a source of insecurity in the five administrative districts of Awendo, Migori,Rongo, Nhiwa and Trans-Mara.
Before the two new white sugar factories one in Ndhiwa and the other one in Trans-Mara, the long established SonySugar Company based at Awendo town had contacted thousands of out-grower cane farmers in close to seven distrcts. The out-grower farmers contracted by SonySugar are estimated to be numbering 27,000 with close to similar numbers of un-contracted cane farmers.
The company classified and clearly demarcated cane growing zones had extended to the neighboring districts of Gucha, Ndhiwa, Rongo, Trans-Mara, Migori, Kuria, Awendo and Uriri.
The planners at the Ministries of Agriculture and Planning also stand blamed fort having strictly adhered to the Kenya Sugar Board’s regulations, which stipulates that investors intending to construct a new sugar mill, must ensure that it is constructed at a distant not less than 40 kilometers from the existing sugar manufacturing plant.
In the case of Sukari Limited , which is located at Oria market on the border Nnhiwa and Urirri districts, it is only a distant of 10 kilometers , In such a short distances, the planners at the two ministries could have foresaw that the trouble where the two mills would scrambles for raw material was abound to occurred.
In the case of Trans-Mara Sugar Company, which is also located close to the Awedo-Migori and Kuria East district borders is only a stance of 15 kilometers from the Awendo-based SonySugar Company Limited Just.
It is being alleged that the two new sugar factories were hurriedly licensed by the KSB which is the regulating body in the sugar industries following heavy pressure mounted by corrupted KSB directors. Who are suspected to have been compromised and manipulated by the investors and made to ignore the existing rules governing the establishment of new sugar processing factories. This is what is now responsible for the now prevailing pathetic situation in Southern Nyanza.
One of the KSB directors representing farmers in Awendo,Rongo, Uriri sugar cane gro2ing zones, Zakariah Okoth Obado has been heard telling hundreds of mourners that there was nothing wrong done by the KSB in licensing the Sukari Limited within only ten kilometers of Awendo-based SonySugar cane growing zones.Before the two new factories were established SonySugr had contracted out thousands growers cane farmer in both Tans-Mara, Ndhiwa, Rongo, and Urirri district. In case of the Sukari Industries in Ndhiwa is established within the Zone “B” of SonySugar.
The KSB repeated the same mistake similar to the controversial licensing of the Butali Sugar Company, which is very close to the West Keya Sugar Company in Kakamega County Western Province, which has caused a protracted legal battles trough the courts for a long time as the two company scrambles for the scarce raw materials, the
The top management of the two new sugar factories have allowed their plants to be used as conduits in the massive theft of cane from the field by readily accepting the stolen cane crops into their mills for processing without making the slightest effort in finding their sources.of origins. Some of the stolen case crops belong to the small-scale poor out growers farmer in the region.
It is now not strange nor unusual for a farmer to part with thousands of shillings harvesting his over-mature cane crops and leaving it staked in the field while awaiting for the transportation to the mill the next day to wake up and found that the cane had already been packed and loaded on tactors during the wee hours of the night and transported to unknown destination.
It is now forcing both the out-growers farmers and the sugar mills to engage extra security guards to guard the already harvested cane in the feds the night. The raw cane crops thieving gangs are also reported to be heavily armed with sophisticated modern weapons possibly gun and arrow an spears while executing their theft mission of depriving the farmer the money from their sweats.
No credible investigation have been instituted by the police to unearth and possibly stamp out the rampant theft.
It is up to he government to protect the farmers and millers. Reports made to the police in Miori, Awendo, Rongo, Ndhiwa and other nearby police stations and police posts are usually igoredand not acted upon in time. Creating the rooms for speculations an unfounded allegations that top police bosses in those police divisions have been compromised were now acting a part of the massive and well organised theft of cane and irregular harvesting of cane farm developed by SonySugar by other mills.
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