Report on the Sugar Task force should be made public, Union Official say.
The General
Secretary of the Kenya Union of Sugar Cane Plantation Workers Francis Wangara.He has called upon the Government to made the report on the National Task force on Sugar public so as to pave the way for privatization of the state-owned sugar factories-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo.
By Dickson Odhiambo.
August 5, 2019.
Report on the Sugar Task force should
be made public, Union Official say.
A Union
official has said the report on the National Task force should be made public
for the people to know the way forward.
The General
Secretary of the Kenya Union of Sugar Cane Plantation Workers Francis Wangara
says it has taken enough time hence the need to make public the report on the
National Taskforce on Sugar that President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed and was co-chaired
by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary and the Council of Governors Chairman
Wickliffe Oparanya.
Addressing the
press at his office in Kisumu today, Wangara said most of the State-owned Sugar
factories have closed and not in operation because there is no money to run
them hence the need to know what the sugar task force report says about the
proposed privatization of such millers.
He says once
the report is made public then it should be implemented, adding privatization
of the state-owned sugar Millers was one of the key issues discussed during the
collection of views from different stakeholders.
He says
there are investors who are out to purchase the state-owned sugar companies
across the country.
“If the
Government wants to take too long with the issue of releasing and implementing the
report on the sugar task force then it should pump in more money for the
operations of the state-owned sugar companies,” Wangara said.
He says the
issue that the report needs a longer period should not be there because there are
investors who are ready to buy the sugar factories.
He says the
Head of State President Uhuru Kenyatta should consider implementing the
recommendations of the report that is believed to be with his office as the
President of this country.
The task force was gazetted on Friday November 9 2019 and kicked off its work on Monday November 12, with Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri visiting North Rift and Western Kenya sugar belts where sugarcane farming is in its knees.
The Cabinet Secretary co-chaired the team with Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya.
Other members included sugar belt region growing Governors Okoth Obado of Migori and Kisumu’s Professor Anyang’ Nyong’o representing the Council of Governors and dug into the issues bedeviling the industry.
The task force also included representation from the Privatization Commission, public and private millers, the Inter-Governmental Relations Technical Committee, Governmental Budget and Economic Council, the Ministry of Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Authority, Treasury, National Assembly and the Senate, Kenya Sugar Federation and the Attorney General’s Office.
The task force had completed its work and should be
presenting its report to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
ENDS:
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