Agency says disposal of sugar firms has stalled, cites politics

The sale of five State-owned sugar millers has stalled, the Privatisation Commission has said, citing political interference with the process.

The commission in March said it was scouting for a transaction adviser to evaluate the loss-making entities and dispose of them by this month.

Chief executive Joseph Koskey Monday blamed unnamed politicians for inciting sugar farmers against the process.

He further said the delay in the release of the sugar task force reform had also tied the hands of the commission. The findings of the task force appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, he said could inform the future of the millers.

“The challenge that we face is that the entire process is not entirely within our control,” Mr Koskey told the Business Daily. “When politicians make pronouncements saying ‘we cannot allow our sugar companies to be sold’ and they go inciting people, when you want to send transaction advisers to the ground to work it becomes a problem.”

Mr Koskey is expected to appear before Senate Committee before the Agriculture Committee accompanied by the Treasury officials and CS Mwangi Kiunjuri to present an update on the troubled sale process of the State-owned millers.

Mr Koskey had said in March the selected transaction adviser would assess the assets and liabilities of Sony, Chemelil, Nzoia, Muhoroni and Miwani companies and give the current position of their financial status to guide the sale to strategic investors.

Mr Koskey had stated then the process to sell 51 percent stake to private investors was “well on course,” expressing optimism that it would be concluded in “four months.”

“We have a transaction adviser in place. They’ve already done initial stages. They are on the ground doing due diligence,” he said yesterday without divulging the identity of the transaction adviser. “We are also awaiting the task force report … Others have said that we needed to wait for the President to release the report before we progress with anything.”

The commission was earlier banking on political goodwill arising out of a recent deal brokered between former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the governors from sugar cane growing zones, who had initially opposed the process of selling the factories to private investors.