The High Court in Nairobi has stopped the licensing of Butali Sugar Mills.
This is pending the hearing and determination of an application to constitute and operationalise the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority
by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei.
In an order signed Friday, November 10, 2014, the court has also ordered the Cabinet Secretary to make sure that the Board of the said Authority is constituted and operational as provided for by the law.
The law stipulates that it is only the Board of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority that can consider the application of an operating licence by Butali Sugar Mills Limited.
The High Court has further prohibited four respondents mentioned in the order from considering and determining the application by Butali Sugar Mills Limited for an operating licence unless and until the Board of the Agricultural Fisheries and Food Authority is constituted and operational.
The four respondents are listed as: the Agricultural Fisheries and Food Authority; the Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries; Alfred Busolo Tabu (Interim Director General, Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority) and Rosemary Mkok (Interim Head of the Sugar Directorate).
The High Court is to issue further directions on the 2nd of December 2014, while a substantive order is to be filed and served within 14 days of issuing the order.
This comes in the wake of Deputy President William Ruto’s remarks that the government would issue Butali Sugar Mills with their operating license. West Kenya Sugar Company responded with a statement reiterating that they would follow the rule of law to the letter until the issue is fully resolved.
West Kenya Sugar Company has been contesting the legal basis upon which Butali Sugar Mills operates, arguing that it has violated its fundamental rights and freedoms by constructing and operating a sugar mill within their (West Kenya Sugar Company’s) sugar zone.