Kenya Union of Sugarcane Plantation Workers has challenged Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to name those behind the importation of illegal sugar into the country.
The Union Secretary General Francis Wangara said it is time the government name and shame the illegal importers.
Wangara said there is no way illegal sugar can find itself into the dock of Mombasa without anyone ordering for it.
“We are demanding that those behind this illegal business are named so that Kenyans can know who has been doing this dirty business,” he said.
Wangara said destruction of the illegal sugar is not enough noting that there should be arrest and prosecution.
“The destruction is good but we should be told the owners of the illegal sugar. Because then it will be a trend for these people to continue importing illegal sugar, if they are not caught it is business as usual because not all illegal sugar will be caught, some will penetrate,” he said.
Speaking at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu on Tuesday after his re-election, Wangara says the war on the importation of cheap and illegal sugar into the country will not be won without showing faces of the illegal importers.
Wangara further decried the dwindling number of union membership in the sugar companies. He blamed it on employing workers on contractual and casual basis terming it an abuse to the labour legislation.
“The union has realised that when an employee of these factories either died or retired they contract workers to fill in those positions and pay less salary,” he said.
Wangara directed the newly elected union officials to submit a list of workers in their jurisdictions who have worked for more than four months and have not been employed permanently.
He said that the union will ensure that labour laws are followed to the latter.