NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 23 — Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o has urged the Ministry of Agriculture’s Principal Secretary, Kipronoh Ronoh, to immediately revoke the approval of redundancies in the four state-owned sugar mills leased to private investors.
Nyong’o warned that the unilateral decision risks triggering chaos in the sector, undermining the government’s sugar industry revival agenda.
“This decision is a direct betrayal of the spirit and intent of the sugar sector revival program,” the governor said in a statement.
He noted that the leasing of Chemelil, Muhoroni, SoNY, and Nzoia sugar factories was designed to revive the sector, enhance efficiency, and improve workers’ welfare.
Approving mass layoffs, he argued, fundamentally contradicts that promise and threatens to destabilize an already fragile industry.
The governor reiterated the national government’s commitment to clear outstanding dues owed to mill workers, pointing out that employees have recently staged demonstrations demanding salary arrears before declaration of redundancies.
Nyong’o, who has previously backtracked on some sugar sector reforms, criticized the approval as insensitive and unconstitutional.
“Furthermore, it is disconcerting that a decision with such profound and devastating impacts on the economies of several counties [was] taken without any consultation with the respective county governments,” he said.
Devolved function
He described the move as a blatant disregard of the principles of cooperative governance, stressing that sugar is a devolved function.
“The livelihoods of thousands of our citizens are not a matter to [be] decided unilaterally from an office in Nairobi,” he added.
Nyong’o urged the PS to rescind the approval and convene an urgent meeting involving the Ministry of Agriculture, the Council of Governors, and workers’ representatives to chart a way forward.
In the meantime, he proposed that the National Treasury release funds to settle all outstanding arrears owed to workers and the factories.
The government has already finalized a 30-year lease agreement with private millers to run the four sugar factories, a deal expected to usher in greater efficiency, productivity, and financial sustainability in a sector that has long struggled with losses.
The redundancy clause was explicitly provided for in the lease agreement and endorsed by the Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation and Allied Workers.
