Billionaire brothers Jaswant Singh Rai (left) who operates from West Kenya Sugar, and his Uganda-based sibling, Sarbjit Singh Rai of Sarai Group.
| File | Nation Media GroupWeekly Review
Premium
Jaswant Singh Rai surrenders in battle for Mumias Sugar
If anyone thought President William Ruto had misspoken with controversial remarks interpreted as death threats on sugar baron Jaswant Singh Rai, he reiterated the same shortly afterwards in response to outrage expressed by the Law Society of Kenya and human rights lobbyists.
And his tough words indeed did have an effect, for Rai, after being freed from a brazen abduction presumably carried out by police officers, withdrew a slew of lawsuits on control of ownership of the troubled Mumias Sugar Company. Questions still arise, however, because it is clear that the controversial tycoon capitulated under a great deal of pressure following Ruto’s warning that those trying to grab Mumias through unorthodox means abandon their legal fights or face three options: Leave Kenya, go to jail, or prepare for heaven.
The controversial warning was delivered during the President’s tour of the Western Kenya sugar belt where, as expected, he addressed the woes of the firm that was once the crown jewel of the Kenya sugar industry but is currently under receivership and subject of a vicious ownership battle involving scions of the Rai family, notably Jaswant and his brother, former motor rally ace Sarabjeet ‘Sarbi’ Singh Rai.
The battle for Mumias has also drawn in a slew of banks, including KCB, Ecobank, Victoria Commercial Bank and French entity Proparco, and is also the subject of criminal investigations around fraudulent transfers and financial transactions, forgery and money laundering.
The current drama started at a roadside rally in Kakamega last Monday when Ruto hit out at crooks and fraudsters allegedly using the courts to frustrate efforts to revive Mumias and the equally troubled Nzoia Sugar Company. He warned that the government would not entertain any more court cases, saying he had warned the yet unnamed individuals to abandon their pursuits. “I told them to withdraw the cases and leave, and if they want to continue causing trouble, they have three options: either they leave the country, or I will take them to jail, or they will leave and go to heaven”.
Speaking earlier in Bungoma, the President had specifically named Jaswant, a victim of an alleged abduction a few days earlier, as the main impudent to government efforts to revive bankrupt sugar companies that used to be the mainstay of the western Kenya economy. The President’s remarks drew immediate condemnation. On Tuesday, Law Society of Kenya President Eric Theuri, Amnesty International (Kenya) Executive Director Irungu Houghton, Haki Africa, Executive Director Hussein Khalid and Kenya Human Rights Commission, Executive Director Davis Malombe issued a joint statement demanding that Ruto “retrace his steps and reverse the growing culture of impunity and misuse of state raw power”.
The statement expressed alarm that Ruto appeared to be suspending the Constitution and substituting the rule of law with the rule and whims of the Executive, which it saw as “an attempt to return the Country to the dark days of a repressive regime”. The president was reminded that he had himself been victim of State excesses, hence the need to return to the path of the Rule of Law and upholding the Constitution.
Ruto’s threats were also condemned by a number of MPs, including Senate Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo, Nominated Senator Beatrice Ogolla, Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka. But politicians linked to the Kenya Kwanza coalition, including Senate Minority Whip Bonny Khalwale, Ugenya MP David Ochieng and UDA Secretary-General Cleophas Malala. Ruto’s tough words came just a few days after Rai was reportedly abducted the previous Friday in a brazen daylight operation. In the incident captured by CCTV cameras on a busy Wood Avenue in Nairobi’s Kilimani suburb, his car was overtaken and blocked by a four-wheel drive vehicle, from which four men jumped out, pulled him out of the driver’s seat, bundled him into their car and drove away.
West Kenya Sugar Chairman Jaswant Singh Rai.
He was released on Sunday evening and his since remained silent on the ordeal, where he was taken and who had captured him. His lawyer Kioko Kilukumi, a well-connected legal practitioner who counts the highest officers in the land on his client list, has also remained silent after initially having raised the alarm. There is still no information on where Rai was taken to, although there is speculation that has delivered to a senior person in government and warned to cease his quest for ownership of Mumias.
The identity of his captors also remains unknown. Widespread belief is that they were police officers, which is buttressed by subsequent happenings around Ruto’s stark warning. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has denied that its officers were involved, yet there is no evidence that what should be ordinarily treated as a serious crime is under active investigation.
Ruto’s response to the protests by LSK and others was telling. Far from withdrawing and apologising, he stood and repeated what has now snowballed into a popular mantra and Internet meme, in Kiswahili “Mambo ni matatu: Wahame Kenya, ama nitawaweka jela, ama wasafiri waende mbinguni”. He turned around and instead accused those challenging his order of taking the side of corruption cartels.
He also scoffed at those saying he was issuing threats: “This is not a threat, it is what we will do,” he reiterated to loud cheers at another public address. Almost at the same time, Jaswant Rai and allied petitioners, including his West Kenya Sugar Company and Dubai-based Vartox Resources, were moving to withdraw a multiplicity of cases in both the High Court and Court of Appeal around the ownership of Mumias Sugar.
But here it gets interesting because Rai is not the only litigant. The cases were first filed by Jaswant, his partners and proxies challenging the 2021 award of a 20-year lease to his estranged brother Sarabjit to manage Mumias Sugar. The tender issued by the KCB-appointed receiver manager PV Rao to Sarbi’s Uganda-based Sarrai Group was annulled last year by Justice by Alfred Mabeya on grounds that it had been given to the lowest bidder in an opaque process that did not take into account the actual value of the business. Sarrai was also said to have bid a fraction of what others had offered.
KCB and Rao went to the Court of Appeal contesting Judge Mabeya’s order, as did Sarbi Rai and his Sarrai Group. Sarbi and others also went separately to the Court of Appeal after being found guilty, on an application by Jaswant, of Contempt of Court for ignoring the High Court order and purporting to move into and take control of Mumias.
All those matters were pending before Ruto issued his edict for withdrawal of all court cases so that the government can have a free hand to revive Mumias. But by focusing on Jaswant and effectively making him the villain, questions abound on what next after he withdrew his court cases under obvious pressure.
As we went to press, there was no indication of whether Sarbi Rai, Sarrai, Rao and KCB were also dropping their appeals. Neither was it clear if the status quo reverts to the period preceding Jaswant’s court action. If so, that will amount to Ruto taking sides in the battle between the two brothers, leaving Sarbi to assume control of Mumias at what the High Court ruled was a giveaway price. It is a matter of also loaded with political ramifications beyond sugar politics.
The statement issued by LSK and human rights lobbies pointedly noted that Ruto had himself been a victim of excesses by the State security machinery, noting the abduction and presumed murder last year of his Indian presidential campaign IT consultants and their Kenyan driver.
“For several years, professional organisations, media houses, religious leaders, human rights organisations, and oversight state agencies have demanded an end to extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. We have campaigned for police officers to be held accountable for enforced disappearances of Indian nationals Zulfiqar Khan, Zaid Kidwai and Kenyan driver Nicodemus Mwania,” the statement said.
Indeed, Ruto campaigned on a firm promise to end the use of police and other security organs for political purposes, out of the pressure he had been subjected to as Deputy President campaigning against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s preferred successor, opposition chief Raila Odinga. One of Ruto’s first acts on taking office last September was to run out of office the then-Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, seen as Uhuru’s hatchet man, and replace him with the current director, Amin Mohammed. Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai also asked to step aside, pleading ill-health, to be replaced by Japheth Koome.
Another swift action was disbandment of the DCI’s notorious Special Services Unit, which reported to Kinoti and had been accused of enforced abductions and extra-judicial executions. Investigations into abduction and presumed murder of the three Ruto campaign staffers as well as other outrages pinned on the Special Services Unit led to a large number of DCI offers suspended or arrested to face serious criminal charges, but there has been little news on progress since.
If it was a police squad that abducted Jaswant and held him for a weekend, that could be an indication that the service is again being used to act outside the law. Ruto’s warning on the Mumias court cases and presumed efforts to grab a public asset also send a chilling message, as pointed out by LSK, on return of dictatorial tendencies including contempt for the justice system, risks of exile or imprisonment without trial, and even threats to extra-judicial executions.
The political angles were also brought out early in the matter. Soon after Jaswant’s abduction, a series of blogs written in a style reminiscent of Ruto’s social media propaganda outfit, the so-called ‘Hustler Nation Intelligence Bureau’ , recounted a clearly well-briefed version of matters under investigations. The details divulged could only have been provided by knowledgeable sources within the political and security system, but what caught the eye were clear attempts to link Jaswant’s activities to the former government. References were made to his alleged links to powerful forces in the previous government, and specifically to Uhuru’s influential brother, Muhoho. There were also claims that Jaswant had poured billions into the presidential campaigns of last year, an obvious reference to Raila.
What cannot be in doubt is that the Rai business empire, going back to the founding patriarch Tarlochan Singh Rai, has always cultivated political links to get ahead. His successors, and now bitter rivals, Jaswant and Sarbi, have at various times squired, entertained and hosted Uhuru, Ruto and Raila. During the presidential campaigns last year, Raila made a visit to Kakamega where he introduced Sarbi as the investor who would rescue Mumias, the crown jewel of local industry. Ironically he is now being indirectly accused of consorting with Jaswant.
Ruto, also, cannot distance himself from the two brothers, who have always been generous in their relationships with political players. What plays out remains to be seen, but it is clear that roadside declaration in the absence of clear written orders will not solve the Mumias mess.
