Attempts to have billionaire Jaswant Rai take over the Mumias Sugar Company might hit a dead end following the recent opposition by the National Treasury and the KCB – appointed receiver-manager Pongangipalli Rao.
The latter has raised concern over the genuineness of the businessman in acquiring the sugar miller.
The receiver-manager Rao, in an affidavit, claims that Western Kenya Sugar Company will get the lease for Mumias Sugar for the next twenty years, then it is probable that the operations of the company would not take place as it cannot sustain the operations.
Some of the other misconducts that have raised eyebrows with the receivership manager and the national Treasury are the illegal buying of cane from Mumias Sugar zone, therefore, denying the company a huge amount of revenue after it had invested in the cane.
According to laws governing millers not to interfere with contracted farmers who benefit from land preparation, fertiliser, extension services, harvesting, and transport – buying from contracted farmers is known as poaching.
The Treasury owns 20 percent of Mumias Sugar. West Kenya was one of the bidders for leasing Mumias Sugar assets for 20 years, currently over a 480 million debt.
