Muhoroni MP Onyang'o K'Oyoo now wants government to speed up the privatisation of local sugar millers.
He said privatising the millers will return the sugar firms to profitability after a long time of loss-making.
“We want the privatisation expedited to save these factories from collapsing,” he said on Tuesday while distributing Sh4.7 million bursaries cheques to 427 students in Chemelil.
He urged the government to put in place stringent measures to stop cheap sugar imports.
"Privatisation is the only way to go, because managing these firms under the government has proved difficult."
K'Oyoo said the government needs to tax imported sugar heavily to curtail rampant importation of the sugarcane product into the country.
The imports, he said, had heavily contributed to the misfortunes bedeviling the sugar sector in the country.
He spoke a week after Kisumu Senator Prof Anyang' Nyong'o said the Senate was preparing to deliberate about the privatisation of local sugar firms.
He said the sugar industry is a source of livelihood for millions of Kenyans and cannot be allowed to collapse.
He promised to spearhead the promotion of sugarcane production in the sugar belt.