This week’s outburst by
Garissa MP and Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale on
the raging controversy over imports of dirty Brazillian sugar into the
country is beginning to put the focus on the real culprits, namely
entities that imported sugar into the country.
The two
pertinent and key questions that should be at the top of the minds of
investigators as the probe of this massive scam enters the decisive
stages are the following: One, who imported the sugar into the country
in the first place?
Second, who allowed these greedy
traders to bring sugar that is unfit for human consumption into the
country? Greedy importers of dirty sugar have already started feeding
the public with spin and untruths.
The importers say
that the raw sugar they imported into the country was meant for
processing before being released to the market. How many sugar milling
plants in this country - especially since the closure of Miwani Sugar
Mills several years ago - have the capacity to refine the volumes of
dirty Brazilian sugar brought in last year? The only entity said to have
recently invested in modest refining capacity is Mr Ragbir Singh’s
Kibos Sugar Ltd.
When they say that they intended to refine it first before releasing it into the market, they are engaging in blatant lies.
Indeed,
the evidence coming out from the court proceedings where some traders
have been arraigned shows that the importers have been doing brisk
business selling dirty sugar to traders all over the country.
The
big story on the dirty sugar saga this week was the impounding by
police of 19,000 tonnes of this sugar in the border town of Migori.
If
the intention of the importers of dirty sugar was to have it refined
first before releasing it to the market as they claim- how come the
police are –day in day out- discovering hundreds of thousands of tonnes
in in far-flung parts of the country: from Meru, to Migori to Webuye and
Kajiado?
And, shipping documents will show that a very
large proportion of the dirty sugar originated from refineries in
Dubai- especially the entity known as Al Kaleej.
Since
when did Kenya start importing such large quantities of raw sugar from
Middle East-based refineries and to refine for human consumption? The
dirty sugar was deliberately brought into the country to be sold to the
public. Period.
We are dealing with a very clever and
manipulative lot. To appreciate just how clever and manipulative these
sugar barons are, you have to go back and examine the two Treasury
gazette notices that approved duty-free sugar imports last year.
They
read like they were drafted by the barons and only given to the
government to publish. Rules and procedures were blatantly being changed
to make it easy for the barons to flood the market dirty sugar.
The
first gazette notice that approved the first window of duty-free
imports was dated May, 12 ,2017.When you read it, there are several
tell-tales that reveal the shadowy hands of the sugar barons.
First,
the gazette notice uses the phrase “any person” was allowed to import
and that you need a licence. If you don’t issue licences, how would you
know or regulate the quantities coming into the country? How do you
assess the impact on local production? Clearly, the rain started beating
from the day the notice came out.
The second gazette
notice by the National Treasury extended the duty free window from
September to end of December 2017.The words used were the following:
‘‘duty shall not be payable on sugar which will have been loaded onto a
vessel between September 1,2017 and December 31, destined to a port in
Kenya and consigned to a local miller.’’
Why couldn’t
they just say ‘‘sugar that has been imported by a miller’’? We came to
realize later that the notice had to be framed in this manner to allow
the barons to import sugar by hiding behind local factories and by
conniving to use the names of local millers in their shipping documents.
That is how even entities like the cash-strapped South Nyanza Sugar and
Trans Nzoia Company imported billions worth of the dirty sugar from
Brazil.
The sugar industry is in the hands of
politically-powerful untouchables with tentacles straddling almost the
whole supply chain - import business, distribution, transport and
warehousing. Let’s wait and see whether the investigations will shake
the untouchables.
Contact Dubai, UAE's Al Khaleej Sugar Co (L.L.C). Location: Al Garhoud Area, next to Cargo Village; Phone: +971-4-2957777. Message for more details here: https://dcciinfo.ae/co/al-khaleej-sugar-co-llc-dubai/48373
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