Kenya; Sugarcane Farmers hit-out at Kenya Sugar Board.

• By Gilbert Ochieng Achieng.

The Kenya Sugar Board is directly responsible for the sugarcane poaching crisis that has nearly crippled the operations of the country’s leading sugar producer Mumias Sugar Company.

More than 500 sugarcane farmers from Busia and Mumias sugar belts yesterday accused the sugar board director for the two belts, Billy Wanjala of being part of the sugarcane poaching syndicate that has gripped the multi-billion shillings business in a stranglehold.

The farmers’ spokesman, Nicholas Makokha Shikanda said Wanjala who is in charge of Mumias and Busia sugar belts that are the lifeline of Mumias Sugar in cane supplies should explain why sugarcane poaching has for the last two years remained rampant in these two belts.

“We also challenge Wanjala to explain why the Kenya Sugar Board introduced West Kenya Sugar Company to buy cane in these belts when it knew that farmers here are all contracted to Mumias Sugar,’ said Shikanda, adding that as a KSB director representing these belts he has failed to spearhead a decisive action to be taken against the poachers.

The irate farmers were reacting to reports carried by a section of the media outlets quoting Wanjala as saying that poor planning and management was responsible for the crisis facing the sugar industry in Busia and Mumias sugar belts.

The Director was also quoted as saying that KSB expected Mumias Sugar to increase sugarcane acreage after releasing Kshs. 140 million to boost sugarcane development in the two areas as he welcomed the sacking of the MSC agriculture and factory managers and calling for the assessment of the current Chief Executive Peter Kebati to ascertain his capabilities.

“We know that. Wanjala has for years been closely operating with the former agriculture manager, West Kenya Sugar Company and the resulting cane poaching crisis. If there had been poor planning and management, Mumias Sugar could not have invested more than Kshs. 3 billion in sugarcane development for the last two years, what is Kshs. 140 million compared to three billion?,” said Shikanda.

The farmers at the same time accused Wanjala and the Sugar Board of introducing West Kenya Sugar Company into a territory occupied by farmers contracted to Mumias Sugar, just about the time Mr. Kebati took over management of Mumias Sugar to deliberately sabotage the company’s operations.

They challenged Wanjala and the Sugar Board to explain why it had completely failed to stamp out the cane poaching crisis and instead given a go ahead to West Kenya Sugar that does not have contracts for cane supplies with any farmer to build a factory in Busia belt under Mumias when it is not qualified.

The farmers defended Mumias Sugar CEO saying that though he had been at the helm for a short period of time, the restructuring programme he has embarked on at Mumias Sugar was the right direction, but KSB must put in place its act and take immediate action to stop sugarcane poaching to save the entire industry from total collapse.

The farmers’ organizing secretary Beatrice Wesonga said since its establishment in 1976, Mumias Sugar has been the most successful and profit-making sugar company in the country.

Apart from producing the largest tonnage of sugar in Kenya, it has the largest product range, because over the decades there was never rampant cane poaching in its zones of operation as is being witnessed today.”

Mrs. Wesonga dismissed. Wanjala’s call for the expansion of sugarcane production acreage in Siaya, Busia, Kakamega and Bungoma Counties saying it was not the solution to the cane shortage crisis since the critical problem was poaching which must be killed once and for all.

She said the Kshs. 140 million loan advanced by the KSB to Mumias Sugar for cane development was a drop in the ocean because the undertaking was very expensive right from land preparation through planting, fertilizers and other farm inputs including crop husbandry costs among others.

The farmers said that they had total confidence with the management of Mumias Sugar and the Company’s ability to succeed in its operations adding that the perception that it was ailing was wrong since the whole business was man-made by a few individuals who were out to make a killing out of the mess.

They further told Wanjala the delayed payments problems being experienced by the company were a direct result of the KSB’s activities and its role in the cane poaching crisis and threatened to ensure that he was voted out of office at the next KSB Directors’ elections.

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Motorist in Western Kenya blame cane tractors over increasing accidents

• By Godfrey Wamalwa, Kenya

Boda boda operators are bitter with cane transporting tractors, which the accuse for causing increasingly road accidents in parts of western province.

The powerful vehicles with engines that roar their way from the cane farms to the sugar mills, hauling huge trailers loaded with more than 14 tones of cane. As they speed along the narrow and bumpy muddy roads, they sway dangerously from one end to other end of the road, putting the motorists at risk.

Speaking to a battery of reporters in Bungoma,motorists operators claimed that many tractors have no rear lights, head lights, reflectors or any other safety devices that can warn or signal motorists of their presence on roads especially during late hours of the night.

But for the few which do, the lights are usually covered by the excess cargo which sometimes spills onto the road as the tractors speed along.

Motorists plying the Webuye-Bungoma road and Webuye –Kakamega roads and others in the Mumias sugar zone curse and loathe the presence of tractors, which they claim to dominate the roads. According to enraged motorists, the tractor drivers do not appear to be careful of other road users.

But, however, the drivers have defended themselves, saying that they are usually paid according to the number of tones they deliver to their respective firms.”That is why we normally rush against time “said John Kilwake, cane tractor driver. Apart from this, many of them says they are poorly paid and under pressure to deliver as much cane as possible.

They further claim to be working under harsh conditions and their employers often issue threats of sacking them should they fail to meet the firm targets.

As the blame game continues, the death toll from the accidents continues to rise. Late last year, a cane driver from Nzoia Sugar zone was crushed to death along Kitale-Webuye road the trailer on which he was riding overturned when it hit a pothole.

Early last year a 12-year-old boy died after being run over by a cane trailer at Kanduyi junction along the Webuye– Malaba Highway . Ronaldo Wekesa from Mjini Estate in Bungoma slipped as he tried to jump off from the tractor. The boy was with his friends. His mother Fridah Nekesa who is a widow said the boy with his brother had left home in the morning on Tuesday without her knowledge. The body was taken to Bungoma District Hospital mortuary.

And on July last year,12-year-old boy was crushed to death when he tried to remove a cane of sugar from a moving tractor in Bungoma east district of Bungoma county.The incident occurred near Misikhu Market.The victim was a pupil at St Johns Primary School-Misikhu.

But this are however not isolated accidents.Cases of such incidents abound in the area.Drivers says most incidents occurs at night when motorists suddenly encounter the ever loaded tractors which take up most of the road, leaving limited space for other road users.As the drivers have to deliver canes to factories round the clock to ensure that the sugar is available countrywide, motorists and pedestrians alike recounted horrific tales of their encounters with the tractors which are a common sight in the region.From West Kenya,Butali, Nzoia sugar belt to the vast cane plantations in Muma’s the cry is the same.

According to senior police officers in the region, it is estimated that 8 people die every month from tractor related ugly drama.Police say the death occurs when the tractors are involved in collisions with other vehicles or when cane loaders or those who hike lifts on the tractors fall off from the vehicles.

However,most of the ugly drama have been blamed on the tractors citing that many drivers lacks essential road safety devices.

“It was around 7pm driving to my home in a moderate at an average speed and all of a sudden I rammed into a cane tractor which was ahead of me” claimed Peterson Simwelo a regular most on the Webuye-Bungoma road who recently survived serious injuries with the cane tractor.

“while is a traffic offence to drive without such essential motoring aids, police are yet to bring any driver to book but have just impounded tractors for flouting the rules” added Simwelo.

Factory chiefs from the named zones where the tractors defy the laws with impunity did not or were unwilling to comment over the same.

But the millers blame the private sector transporters who own the tractors that are contracted by the factories to deliver the cane.

On the other hand to minimize accidents,cane firms have erected billboards and signs along the busy roads to warn other road users to be on the look out for tractors. Also the poor state of roads has not made matters simple. Most of the roads heading to cane factories and plantations are in a sorry state thus contributing much to the rising accidents.

Attempts by firms to improve the roads have not yielded much success since they do not have the resources needed to tarmac almost all of the roads.”Apart from accidents,the tractors have been a major cause of obstruction on the busy Webuye-Malaba highway and Bungoma-Kakamega road because they often break down in the middle of the road”said Isaac Bwire a matatu driver on Bungoma-Malaba highway.

“They carry excess cane with some dropping on the road and on coming vehicles are usually pushed out of the road because the road is narrow”added Mr Bwire.

Webuye police chief Willy Simba has appealed to all road users to be mindful as the number of road accidents involving cane tractors and motorists is on the rise.

Western Kenya is known to lead in sugar production whereas cane transportation has turned to be a headache to the operators.

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