Tanzania sugar smuggled into Kenya

Workers at the Mumias Sugar Company arrange sugar packets. Photo/FILE

What you need to know:

  • A KSB director from the Sony sugar-belt, Mr Okoth Obado, protested against the continued smuggling of sugar from Tanzania, that was later repackaged in branded bags of local millers.
  • He accused some senior police officers in Nyanza of abetting the racket and claimed they were also beneficiaries.
  • “Junior officers who arrest the dealers are transferred to the remotest parts of the country and this has demoralised them in stopping the crime,” said Mr Obado.

Smuggling of sugar from Tanzania has not eased despite attempts to stamp out the racket.

A Nation team at the weekend spotted several lorries from the neighbouring country entering Kenya through illegal points in Kuria West and Kuria East districts.

Investigations showed that the traders were hoarding the commodity in anticipation of a shortage and attendant price increase in the country since factories are likely to be shut soon for annual maintenance.

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The sugar from Mwanza is packed in unbranded bags but is repackaged after entering Kenya in bags labelled Nzoia, Mumias and Sony Sugar before being sold to shop owners.

“We are expecting a serious shortage in the market, and we don’t want our people to suffer,” said one of the “importers” who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation by the authorities.

The consignments are brought in lorries as rice and maize.

Last Friday, sugar worth more than Sh5 million was seized at one of the illegal entry points.

The 1,150 bags were in two lorries and had entered Kenya through Kuria West District.

Part of the cargo had been repackaged in Nzoia Sugar Company 50-kilogramme bags, ready for distribution in supermarkets and other retail outlets in Nyanza.

A Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) surveillance team impounded the consignment and arrested three suspects. Two of their accomplices escaped.

Escorted in cars

The KSB officials, however, found themselves in trouble after rowdy residents of Komomwamu trading centre threatened to lynch them unless they released the lorries.

The officials only got a reprieve after some of the residents pleaded with them to let the officers do their work.

The lorries were being escorted by their owners in saloon cars.

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