Alarm as trailers haul factory equipment from Mumias Sugar

There is a fear that operations at Mumias Sugar Company could soon be paralysed after trailers were sighted carrying equipment out of the factory.

This even after President William Ruto announced at Kakamega  State lodge on December 9, 2022 that his government will settle the debt for Mumias Sugar Company and find a new strategic investor to replace the Ugandan firm Sarrai which had controversially won the lease in December 2021.

Sarrai's lease was revoked by High Court by Justice Alfred Mabeya on April 14, 2022. The judge wondered why the lowest bidder with Sh5billion bid was selected when higher bids were more than five time higher. He also wondered how Sh5billion would settle the Sh23 billion debt that Mumias Sugar owed to its creditors.

Factory equipment

Justice Mabeya appoint a new receiver manager Kerato Mirima to replace the previous one PV Rao who had awarded the lease to  Sarrai. Rao moved to court to challenge the ruling but Justice Okwany declined to hear Rao's application last month.

The ruling meant that Justice Mabeya's order which appointed a new receiver manager and canceled Sarrai lease was still in effect.

Sources at the factory confirmed that two trailers carted away factory equipment to unknown location. The equipment which include heavy duty rollers used as shredders to cut sugar cane into small pieces.

Operations at the miller

Other photographs show heaters used to heat the cane juice during the manufacturing of sugarcane.

The High Court and the Court of Appeal rulings had both stopped the operations at the miller, but Sarrai group has been at the miller. 

Our sources at the factory said that if more equipment are taken away from the factory, it may become harder for the miller to operate.