Mumias Sugar: Farmers accuse Sarrai Group of not buying cane from locals

Mumias Sugar Company

The entrance to Mumias Sugar Company. 

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

Farmers in Mumias have accused Sarrai Group of outsourcing sugarcane to be processed at Mumias Sugar factory, leaving the crop from the local community to rot in the farms.
The farmers, who assembled in one of the farms in Mumias on Monday, accused the Uganda-based firm of not buying the sugar from the local community.

“When Mumias Sugar Company was started in 1966, farmers agreed that it would help the local community,” Mr Didmus Mwangala, a farmer, said.  
“Sarrai Group is outsourcing sugarcane as our crops rot in the farms,” he added.
 The farmers claimed that initially, proceeds from their crops enabled them to educate their children but since Serrai Group took over the management of Mumias Sugar Company last year, this is no longer the case.      

Read: Sarrai Group to know its fate in contempt of court case in December
The farmers said their children are jobless and may soon turn to crime.
 “We have taken our children to school and there are no jobs. Some have turned to crime. Our mature cane is rotting in the farms,” Ms Mary Makhoha said.  
The farmers also accused a local administrator of frustrating their efforts to air their grievances on the management of Mumias Sugar.  
They said last week, Mumias Sugar workers planned a peaceful demonstration before they were dispersed by the police.

During the Thursday demos, the workers protested the delay in salary payment and accused Sarrai Group of importing workers from Uganda to work at the miller.
The workers claimed that they had not been paid for months.

“We want our salary arrears to be paid immediately. We also want locals to be allowed to work in the company,” Mr Patrick Mutimbo, a worker at the company, told the media.
This comes two weeks after Sarrai Group was stopped by the Court of Appeal from operating the sugar miller until a case lodged against it is heard and determined.


The court upheld April 14, 2022, ruling that directed the Ugandan firm to vacate the milling company premises.
Three appellate court judges said the applicants had demonstrated an appeal will be rendered nugatory in case the execution is not stayed during the hearing of the case.
“In the upshot, the notice of motion dated 27th April 2022 is allowed to the extent only that there will be the stay of execution of the ruling dated 14th April 2022,” the judges ruled on September 23.

The three judges were J.Mohammed, S. Ole Kantai and Asike Makhandia. The ruling now means Sarrai remains locked out of Mumias Sugar premises.
In the April ruling, the High Court judge Justice Alfred Mabeya in Nairobi cancelled the Sarrai Group’s 20-year lease to operate Mumias Sugar Company.