Ruto Pledges to Secure New Funding for Mumias Sugar
President William Ruto has declared that he will find a new investor to save the bankrupt Mumias Sugar Company and pay all the debt incurred by the factory.
Lydia Kadima 
On Thursday, speaking during his first visit to Western Kenya since taking office, President Ruto said that he will help bring back thousands of lost job opportunities in the sugar company.
“The government will pay all the debt for sugar factories. I will bring a new investor for Mumias and oversee the revival. I know all these people and issues. The current issues at Mumias cannot be allowed to continue,” the President said.
Ruto declared that in addition to expanding employment prospects for Kenyan youth and providing farmers with a venue to sell their produce, he will also restore Nzoia Sugar Company.
Ruto's comments came at a time when the Sarrai Group, located in Uganda, is fighting legal battles following its expulsion from the sugar miller in April 2022.
After a competitive bidding process that resulted in higher bids being excluded from the investment endeavor, Sarrai controversially won the 20-year lease competition in December 2021.
However, in April 2022, High Court judge Justice Alfred Mabeya ordered Sarrai to vacate the premises and replaced Ponangipali Venkata Ramana Rao as the Administrator of the corporation.
Rao was instructed by Mabeya to transfer control of the Mumias Sugar Company to Kereto Marima, who had been appointed as the new administrator.
According to Justice Mabeya, it is in the public interest to drop the receivership, which has produced no results, and give Mumias' professional administration a chance.
In October this year, sugarcane farmers and former Mumias Sugar employees took to the streets to protest Sarrai Group stay at the sugar miller despite a court order ordering it out.
The employees alleged that the company had shut out locals and former employees of the struggling miller and hired labor from Uganda. They claimed that Sarai Group took almost unpaid possession of more than 8,000 acres.
“Mumias Sugar requires your urgent intervention Mr President because people are being mistreated by a Ugandan. The dirty games being played in Mumias should not happen under your leadership,” Mumias Sugar Workers Union Chairman Patrick Mutimba said during the street demos in October.
