The National Intelligence Service has raised critical red flags over the developing relations between Agriculture CS Peter Munya and sugar baron Jaswant Singh Rai.
In their weekly security briefings, NIS severally raised concerns about Rai’s attempts to influence government policy on sugar imports by manipulating high ranking officials in CS Munya’s office.
As Kenya government races to ensure essential commodities from food to face masks are easily available to ordinary Kenyans, NIS warn that unscrupulous businessmen may exploit opportunities rising out of lack of competitive bidding and other safeguards in place to keep prices in check.
Consequently, CS Munya has put himself on a collision course with President President Uhuru Kenyatta after several of those reports flagged numerous Rai’s visits to Munya’s Kilimo House office and linked those visits to developments at the Sugar Directorate of the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).
Apart from Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, CS Munya has emerged as one of the closest cabinet secretaries to President Uhuru Kenyatta from Mt Kenya region.
Sources reliably told Kenyan News Day that Rai was getting concerned about the increasing power of small scale sugar importers whose influence was expanding by the day.
Rai who doubles as the primary sugar miller in Kenya is alarmed by unregulated and cheap imports of sugar that are keeping import and local product prices down and therefore impacting revenues. Rai’s demand to Munya is that small scale importers be locked out of the sugar import regime.
Typically, Rai uses local cane farmers as a pawn when negotiating sugar deals with state officials.
For many years, according to NIS, high-level sugar barons have maintained a stranglehold on the industry using top level political patronage and is replete with tax evasion, corruption and money laundering.
Added to this is a rumoured multimillion kickback bait that has been dangled in Munya’s face if he concedes to Rai’s demands on imports.
Already, in order to protect Rai’s interests, Munya has ordered the sacking of Solomon Odera as the interim head of the Sugar Directorate, a position he has held since August 2016.
Kenyan News Day established the President had read the NIS reports on sugar imports but had not taken any action yet.
Together with Rai, Munya has put in motion an intricate plan that will see the Rai group effectively monopolise the imports. Kenya produces about 600,000 tonnes of sugar a year, compared with annual consumption of 870,000 tonnes.
The sugar deficit is usually covered by stringently controlled imports from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) trade bloc. In the last two years, imports have exceeded the deficit and created marketing problem for locally produced sugar.
Earlier this year, the President received the Sugar Taskforce report from CS Munya and Kakaega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya who were the co-chairs.
Among its recommensations, the task force sought to stop illegal sugar imports coming from Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan as part of its plan to revamp its sugar sector and improve production.
They also recommended the barring of local millers from importing sugar from Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).
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