The sugarcane farmers of Mumias may be poor, but they are not foolish

Last week, the President visited my home area of Mumias. He went to present a cheque of Sh1 billion as an initial bailout of the Mumias Sugar Company. The action was presented in some quarters as bringing development to the region.

Predictably, the trip was preceded by MPs from the region visitig State House. Ababu Namwamba felt constrained to defend the trip. He incredibly claimed the visit had nothing to do with politics.

The trip, he claimed, was all about development to the region. This, as Gilbert Muyumba argued elsewhere, is a foolhardy defence. I deliberately select the word foolhardy to describe what comes through as a rather foolish explanation given the new Constitution.

Mumias is a place with a glorious history and my people know it. They may not go to town to proclaim it and can even be self-effacing about it. Other people from far off tend to think of my people as stupid, as mere watchmen, if you will. A brother in another newspaper even reminded us recently that we do not have a millionaire in our part of the world.

That our leaders have now joined the bandwagon of those who think we are fools is really tragic.

I want to remind all that my people may be poor but they certainly are not fools. My people and those of the broader sugar belt have recently known poverty never before experienced.

This is because the sugar plantation economy has gone to the dogs due to corruption rolled out by managers at the company. What the managers sowed long ago blossomed recently.

Ironically, among the MPs who visited the President last week was one who used to submit invoices to Mumias for an advertisement activity that he never was sanctioned to undertake.

When officers at the company refused to pay, a senior manager would order that payments be made. The MP would then get paid money that he never worked for in the first place.

That corruption has reigned for long in Mumias Sugar and was known and repeatedly highlighted. My former classmate in Mukumu Boys High School, Mr Lawrence Omuhaka, was even fired from the company for pointing out some of these things. It took the intervention of a court sitting in Kisumu to reinstate him and secure his integrity.

My people know the owners of Mumias Sugar Company. They know it is not their company. Who in this world owns a company that treats you like a beggar?

My people can see through the propaganda that the Sh1 billion was meant for them. The government is a key shareholder in the company followed by foreign and other shareholders from elsewhere in Kenya. The bailout is designed to secure the interests of these shareholders, not farmers.

My people know that the propaganda to the effect that the government has bailed out farmers is dubious at best. After all, when the government wanted to bail out coffee farmers in 2011, they wrote off huge sums in debt.

Though my people plant sugarcane, they know only its bitterness. The bailout is unlikely to change this situation since the amount given is far less than what is needed for it to trickle down to farmers. Many farmers in Mumias plant and deliver their crop only to be told that they in fact owe the company money.

Instead of paying farmers, the company issues a credit note. Is it not incredible that the cost of production exceeds the value of the cane delivered?

What is the problem? The government must stop those who import sugar without paying taxes. Second, competition against Mumias Sugar Company in the region is stiff. Competing companies pay much better rates and more promptly than Mumias Sugar Company. Fix these and we will have a conversation about a bailout that really helps farmers.

Godwin Murunga is Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi