Mumias Sugar closure headlines Matungu debates
Dennis Lumiti
Sugar politics dominated the Matungu by-election campaigns as leaders from the Luhya community renewed calls for action against those who plundered Mumias Sugar Company.
Leaders from the Amani National Congress (ANC) party also demanded for full implementation of the various sugar task force reports.
ANC leader Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi said Mumias Sugar Company was the lifeline of over 10,000 families and that its collapse had messed up their livelihoods.
“So many families here in Matungu are suffering because their livelihoods depended wholly on Mumias Sugar Company,” he said.
While leading campaigns for the ANC candidate Peter Oscar Nabulindo in the constituency, Mudavadi said reports of various sugar task forces should be implemented fully if the government is serious in reviving the sugar industry.
Owe the miller
Lugari MP Ayub Savula said it was an irony that the very people who contributed to the collapse of Mumias Sugar Company were campaigning to win the seat in the March 4 by-election.
“I lost the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture because of my agitation for the revival of Mumias Sugar.
Some of my fellow leaders from here fought me because they said if the firm is revived they would be forced to pay debts that they owe the miller,” he said.
Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and Sabatia MP Alfred Agoi echoed the sentiments saying Matungu residents should reject candidates associated with people and parties that contributed to the collapse of Mumias. The leaders said victory for Nabulindo would be a boost for Mudavadi’s presidential bid in 2022.
Mudavadi first held a meeting at the Kakamega Sports Club in Kakamega town where he received defectors from various political parties who joined ANC and vowed to campaign for Nabulindo.
They include Jubilee Kakamega County Secretary Raphael Welimo and Peninah Mukabane, a former close ally of Governor Wycliffe Oparanya who quit ODM.
Mukabane is a former County Executive Committee member for Water and Health who also served as Oparanya’s advisor on gender.
The troops then proceeded to Matungu where they first held a meeting with elders at Namulungu before addressing several public rallies across the constituency.
Earlier on Saturday, Mudavadi said Kenya needs a sober and visionary person to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta for unity and peace to reign.
Mudavadi said the country’s economy would only recover if Uhuru’s successor will be a leader who can unite Kenyans, ensure stability and subsequently attract investors.
He said the country continues to lose investors due to politics of brinkmanship.
“President Uhuru Kenyatta has put in his best in the prevailing circumstances and it will only be prudent for him to be succeeded by somebody who understands economic recovery, how to foster peace and unite Kenyans,” said Mudavadi.
He added: “We can not dare experiment with the future of our great Nation if we take the root of war drums and politics of us verses them.”
