Cheap sugar imports deal not favourable

The raging debate pitting President Uhuru Kenyatta and his allies against Raila Odinga and Western MPs is evidence of politicisation of a serious economic issue that needs debating on the platform of ideology and policy.

If truth be told, the move to allow cheap sugar imports to Kenya is at best unpatriotic. It does not matter the source: Uganda or Brazil.

If someone knows that Malawi (or Sudan, or any other country) can sustainably produce cheap sugar, it is indeed the call of true leadership to make it happen for Kenya as well. Jumping to quicksand fixes in cheap importation is alike to admiring your neighbour’s house while you have an opportunity to make yours.

It is a fact that 25 per cent of the Kenyan population directly and indirectly depends on the sugar industry. This is a multi-billion shilling investment that has several players in the value-chain. In the next few months, we stand to have all these go up in flames because of a policy that could be negotiated in favour of Kenya.

I am well aware of the East African Community Common Market Protocol and personally I am not against free-market dynamics of trade. This is, after all, the global and competitive trend.

However, leaders who cannot stand for advocating a policy in favour of the majority whom they lead are unpatriotic.

I am not against exporting milk to Uganda. What I am against is the failure to take care of the interests of the majority, while safeguarding those of the minority. It is only a business cartel that can do so, and not leaders of the majority.