Sugarcane farmers and unionists have warned that Mumias Sugar Company may not reopen after Christmas despite the miller’s management insisting that it will. The farmers said the company owes suppliers a lot of money and this had grounded its operations. The Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation and Allied Workers (Kuspaw) and the Kenya Sugarcane Growers Association (Kesga) officials Monday said some suppliers had stopped supplying the miller. Kuspaw secretary-general Francis Wangara said security firms, utility providers and cane transporters, are some of the firms that have since withdrawn their services. “The government should urgently step in to address the problem that is affecting the entire industry. Mumias is under intense pressure from its creditors. Some firms are now pulling out,” he said. The heavily indebted Mumias, which had been closed down for maintenance, was supposed to re-open on December 8, 2014 but this was postponed for a week. Mumias Sugar Managing Director Coutts Otolo told the Press in Kisumu that the firm will resume before Christmas. But Mr Wangara said the reason for the extension was due to lack of money to pay for electricity, security and transporters. DIFFICULT TO RESUME OPERATIONS “It will be difficult to resume operations, unless the debts are paid. Even if they force their way, the creditors will still bring them down,” he said. His Kesga counterpart Richard Ogendo said Mumias has never received any loan from the Sugar Development Fund despite being the largest contributor. “The government should loan the miller cash from the fund. It is surviving by the grace of God,” said Mr Ogendo. He said the government settled arrears owed to private farmers but the contracted ones have not yet been paid. He said the bad state of Mumias was affecting the industry as it crashes 8,000 tonnes of c He said the bad state of Mumias was affecting the industry as it crashes 8,000 tonnes of cane per day, the largest in the country. He added that factories including West Kenya, Butali and Nzoia, will not manage to crush all the sugarcane in the area if Mumias closes. “We need radical change in the management of Mumias so that top managers are politically neutral. We can look for a foreign firm to come manage the company if that is what it takes to insulate the company from negative political influence
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 08:05:01 +0000
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