Receiver manager told to re-advertise bid to salvage Mumias Sugar Company
Benard Sige
Agriculture Senate Committee looking into the affairs of troubled Mumias Sugar Company yesterday asked the receiver manager to re-advertise the bid for troubled Mumias Sugar Company in the next two weeks.
The committee which met yesterday took receiver manager Ponangipalli Venkata Ramana Rao to task over claims that Devki Group had entered a Sh5 billion private deal with the miller.
Rao has been looking for a strategic investor to run the miller, and it was thought that the receiver manager who had been appointed by KCB Bank, had finally struck a Sh5 billion deal with Devki.
Refurbishing factory
Devki would have invested Sh4 billion in refurbishing the factory, and use the remaining Sh1 billion to pay farmers who had not been paid for the supply of cane to the company.
However, it emerged that this never happened leading to Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala faulting Devki for misleading the public that it had won the leasing bid, leading to demonstrations in Mumias town.
Rao said allegations about the Devki Group of companies having won the bid to lease the company are hearsay because they have not received an official letter from the group.
The Senate Agriculture Committee also faulted the Mumias Sugar Company receiver Manager for failing to publicly advertise the leasing process of the debt ridden State Miller, leading to proponents such as Devki openly declaring having been on the forefront to take over operations at Mumias Sugar.
Rao had a hard time explaining that Devki had not officially bided for leasing of Mumias Sugar, and that it normally takes up to a year to do so.
Malala who sought clarification from the Senate Agriculture Committee on the botched Devki leasing process, blamed the receiver manager and Devki Ltd, for creating confusion and commotion over the leasing process.
The collapse of Mumias Sugar Company has adversely affected the residents of Kakamega County as sugarcane farming has been their economic mainstay for a long time.
