Deputy President William Ruto has weighed in on the contraband sugar debate, calling for a speedy probe into the issue.
Speaking when he toured the sugar belt regions of Bungoma and Kakamega counties on Friday, Ruto also directed the involved investigative bodies to be thorough in their investigations.
He expressed the government's commitment to aid in any possible way, in a bid to see the culprits subjected to the law, blaming the cartels for the deterioration of the sugar sector.
The same, he said, has rendered area locals miserable, as the importers have overshadowed them, rendering sugarcane farmers economically incapacitated, adding that the scam has as well cost the government via tax evasion.
"As government, we want to see all the importers of the contraband sugar, who also evaded tax in the process, brought to book and punished," he said.
"We cannot allow a few importers to kill our sugar industry, paralyzing our local sugarcane farmers' livelihoods," he added.
Coming at a time when a number of sugar factories in the region are in terrible conditions with others being on their way out of business, Ruto announced plans to revive the Western Kenya economic backbone.
He said that the government is keen on bailing out the factories, beginning with the Mumias Sugar factory and has since released funds in line with the same, but are still held up in the channel.
"We have allocated funds to help Mumias back to its feet but we are still working on some internal issues within the company before the bailout is released," said the DP.
This comes at a time when 60 percent of the tested imported sugar has been confirmed to contain impurities and declared unfit for human consumption.
Close to one million metric tones of the product was imported by millers to cover up for the cane shortage in the nation, following the National Treasury Ministry's blanket license.