Nzoia sugar has been leased to Jaswant Rai(inset)
By Peter Mwibanda
Bungoma, Kenya (IP)
Nzoia Sugar Company, once a powerhouse in western Kenya’s economy has quietly leased itself to a private developer even as it drowns in nearly Sh2 billion in debts and unanswered audit queries.
The leasing deal, struck without parliamentary debate or public participation, is raising questions of accountability and fears of backdoor privatization.
Lawmakers and industry watchers say the opaque arrangement risks stripping public assets while farmers and taxpayers bear the burden.
“This is a classic case of public asset stripping,” warned one legislator on the Agriculture Committee. “You cannot lease a debt-ridden state firm without full disclosure of who benefits and how.”
The controversy comes on the heels of a damning report from the Auditor General that revealed staggering financial irregularities at the Bungoma-based miller.
At the heart of the audit is a nine-year-old mystery: goods worth Sh72 million still listed as “in transit.”
No receipts, no proof of delivery and no explanation exist for the items, leaving auditors to question whether they were ever purchased at all.
The audit also flagged idle staff housing worth Sh303 million, standing empty even as the company incurs costly maintenance bills.
On top of that, Nzoia owes the taxman Sh998 million in unpaid taxes and failed to disclose a Sh7 million court fine, breaching financial reporting standards.
Despite its collapsing books, the company pushed ahead with a lease deal whose details remain under wraps.
Who the developer is, the duration of the lease and how liabilities will be handled have not been made public.
For farmers across Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia, the leasing scandal is the latest betrayal.
Nzoia Sugar was once among the country’s top millers, supporting thousands of cane growers.
Today, farmers remain unpaid, cane rots in the fields and the factory runs below capacity.
The collapse mirrors the fate of other state-owned millers.
Mumias, Chemelil, Muhoroni and Sony Sugar have all gone down the same path — mismanagement, debts and opaque takeovers that critics say favor politically connected cartels.
The Auditor General’s findings have sparked calls for a forensic probe and prosecution of responsible officials, but the Ministry of Agriculture has yet to respond.
As Kenya grapples with ballooning national debt and sluggish growth, Nzoia Sugar’s crisis offers a sobering microcosm: public enterprises sinking under mismanagement while lifelines for ordinary citizens are quietly traded away.
The audit has blown the whistle. Whether accountability follows remains uncertain.
