Fresh bid to revive Mumias Sugar faces legal headwinds
The fressh efforts to revive Mumias Sugar Company face new threats due to concerns raised by the Receiver Manager.
Ponangipalli Venkata Ramana-Rao, the receiver and administrator of the firm, has condemned the current revival programme which he said was a violation of a recent court ruling. Justice Wilfrida Okwany last week directed that all activities that are going on at the company should be halted until a case filed by creditors was heard and determined.
The ruling came a few days after Rao raised concerns over the activities of the Sarrai Group Ltd which secured a contract to revive the once East and Central Africa’s largest miller. Through lawyer George Kashindi, the Receiver Manager warned the Ugandan firm not to carry on with with their operations before the cases in court were concluded. He stated that Sarrai’s responsibilities at Mumias were simply to inspect the Plant and initiate a cleaning exercise.
Lawyer Jackline Kimeto, also for the receiver, has since written to the investor’s legal representative Wesley Gichaba warning he would be held liable for any losses or damages that would be meted to the miller’s assets.
She accused her colleague of allegedly directing his client to disobey court orders. The lawyer was responding to her colleague who wrote to her defending his client.
Gichaba had said Justice Okwany’s orders did not interfere in any way or set aside the orders of the court of appeal nor the order of the April 25, 2022 of the same court.
“We wish to confirm that the court did not set aside or stay its own orders of April 25. The orders (stay on cancellation of lease) are in place and still effective till a ruling on your application delivered on December 15, 2021 as directed by the court,” he said.
