Minister ordered to explain high sugar price

Agriculture assistant minister Gideon Ndambuki has been ordered to furnish Parliament with reasons behind the high price of sugar.

He told the House Tuesday that cane shortage locally and within the region coupled with high global prices were the main reasons for the steep price.

But he was dismissed by angry members who demanded that he goes back to do his ‘homework’ well.

“I am disappointed with this minister. This is no answer. In fact you are just playing around with words, the truth of the matter is that we have not had a drought in the western region as the minister has claimed,” said Emuhaya MP Wilbur Ottichilo, who had put a question to the minister.

The retail price of sugar has increased drastically in the last two months from less than Sh120 per a kilogram to over Sh250 per kilogram forcing many households to omit it from their shopping list.

On Monday, the Agriculture Committee of Parliament ordered the Kenya Sugar Board and the minister to furnish it with details of the 11 importers of sugar currently holding valid licenses and the amount they have imported into the country.

The committee chaired by Naivasha MP John Mututho is worried that a cartel in sugar importation may be behind the crisis being faced locally and has scheduled a meeting to interrogate the Minister for Agriculture and KSB on the same.

In Parliament, MPs demanded to know urgent measures the Ministry is taking to ensure the commodity retails at a fair and affordable price.

Dr Ottichilo argued the parliamentary committee on the High Cost of Living had confirmed the factories in western province have been producing and selling sugar at Sh6,500 for a 50 kilogram bag of sugar, which would translate to about Sh130 per a kilogram of sugar.

“How come then the sugar in the market is selling at a higher price,” he questioned.

Mr Ndambuki claimed sugar growing areas had recorded a shortage in cane and factories had been affected by supplies for milling from farms. He also claimed the post-election violence in 2008 had affected farming and supply.

“These are some of the things which are giving us problems,” the assistant minister said.

But this was refuted by members led by Migori MP John Pesa.

Ol-Kalou MP Erastus Mureithi shocked the House saying the parliamentary committee on the High Cost of Living found cane worth Sh2 billion in farms in the South Nyanza sugar belt.

“We visited the sugar belt and were shocked with the amount of cane that farmers still had one their farms, mature for harvest,” he stated.

“The farmers had even coined a name for it- ‘helicopter harvesting’ because harvesting is only done for key personalities,” he stated.

Mr Ndambuki said sugar production in the country has gone down drastically from January to September.

“What we have produced locally is a small amount and the requirement of importation has not been met, and we cannot get this anywhere because what the millers have in their stores is nothing substantial which means there is no cane for production,” he claimed.

He further claimed that those with importation licenses have been unable to bring in any sugar because of shortage in the region.

The Ministry has received 39 more applications for importation licenses and it is still processing the same according to the minister.

Gichugu MP asked the minister to go back and ‘do his homework’ and come with a credible answer.

House Speaker Kenneth Marende directed the minister to report back to the House on Thursday with a satisfactory answer.

“As a matter of fact yes, we are talking about an essential commodity, this is an urgent matter,” the Speaker ruled.