Kakamega Governor and CoG chairman Wycliffe Oparanya during a meeting with officials from the Greater Busoga Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative Union in his boardroom on Friday, August 21, 2020 A Ugandan investor has shown interest in taking over the management of the troubled Mumias Sugar Company for revival.
Officials from Greater Busoga Sugar Cane Growers Co-operative Union on Friday met Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya to present their proposal on investing in the giant miller that is now dormant.
The team led by Michael Mugabira said it is ready and willing to sink in billions in the company and cane development to resuscitate it, if granted the opportunity.
"We deal with sugar cane farming in Uganda and we understand this industry well. We are ready to provide both financial and technical investments in Mumias to start crashing again," Mugabira said on Friday.
He said they prefer coming on board as shareholders if their proposal is accepted. The company is largely private with the government holding 22 per cent of the shares.
The team was introduced to Oparanya, who is also Council of Governors chairman by a senior county official. The group had signed a three-month contract for supply of sugar cane to a private miller before the government stopped importation of cane from Uganda.
Oparanya told the team to put their proposal in writing for forwarding to the President.
"We are open to any investor who engages in legal business to invest in our county," Oparanya said.
"Currently, the company is under receivership but we are considering leasing it to a serious investor who invests in cane development and finances to revive it," he added.
He said the company is able to crush 10,000 tonnes per day if well managed.
But the Kenya National Sugar Cane Farmers federation deputy secretary Simon Wesechere read mischief in the development.“The national and county sugar task force reports gave a clear road map for the revival of the company and we do not understand where the aspects of bring in people from outside has come from,” he said.Mumias Sugar, the once premier miller in East and Central Africa, has not crushed cane for two years. It shut down due to huge debt portfolio and inadequate raw materials occasioned by poaching of its crop by rival millers.The company is currently under receivership by the Kenya Commercial Bank KCB group to safeguard the interests of other lenders. Edited by EKibii
