Deputy president William Ruto has said that the government is ready to surrender some of its stake in five sugarcane factories in the country in a measure aimed at streamlining the management of the sector.
Speaking during a consultative meeting on the privatization of sugar factories, held at his Karen office, Nairobi,on Wednesday, Mr Ruto said that the government was looking into ways of facilitating privatization of Muhoroni, Sony, Nzoia, Chemilil and Miwani Sugar factories.
“We have to make changes to the model we are using to manage the sugar sector. We have no problem even if it means we surrender our stake in the sugar factories, so long as it will be for the benefit of the sugarcane farmers,” said Mr Ruto.
He questioned the manner in which these public factories are being ran and called for re-energization of management to the betterment of sugarcane farmers as it was reported that these factories had a debt of Ksh 89.3 billions as of December last year.
"The situation where private companies in the sugar industry are making money while the public ones are making loses, shows that there is a problem somewhere which must be fixed,” said Mr Ruto.
The deputy president called for inclusivity in privatization as each factory had their own ways of management.
"Consultations should be done on individuals factories so as to get views on how each one of them wants issues affecting it addressed,” said Mr Ruto.
In attendance were Cabinet secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri (Agriculture), Governors Paul Chepkwony (Kericho), Okoth Obado (Migori), Stephen Sang (Nandi), Land Commission chairman Mohammed Swazuri and Privatization Commission chairman Henry Obwocha.