Regulator in row with KDF over missing illegal sugar
Butali Sugar Mills employees work at the plant in Kakamega County. Cheap sugar imports hurt local millers. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Agriculture authority says it was denied entry to military base where about 370 bags of contraband sugar are stored.
KDF has denied knowledge of the consignment amid efforts to dismantle a decades-old sugar smuggling cartel that is funding Somali militants waging war on Kenya.
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) is locked in a row with the agriculture regulator over the whereabouts of 370 bags of contraband sugar, which were seized and allegedly stored at the Mandera military base.
Sugar surveillance officials from the Agriculture Food and Fisheries Authority (AFFA) have been denied entry into the base to prepare for destruction of the illicit sugar.
KDF has denied knowledge of the consignment amid efforts to dismantle a decades-old sugar smuggling cartel that is funding Somali militants waging war on Kenya.
“After we got the information on this contraband sugar, we sought to ascertain the volumes and plan how we were going to destroy the consignment, but KDF is yet to allow us to see it,” said Adan Ghure, the AFFA official in charge of sugar in Mandera.
When contacted, KDF spokesperson David Obonyo told the Business Daily that the Army does not deal in contraband goods and denied that the consignment was in their possession.
Trafficking
“You should ask the police where the consignment was kept because the military does not deal with contraband goods,” said Colonel Obonyo.
The government has taken steps to stop trafficking of sugar from the southern Somalia port of Kismayu to Kenya’s frontier and has set up a special unit in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to dismantle smuggling cartels.
Sugar smuggling is lucrative in Kenya, where the local industry is protected from imports as part of an agreement with African trading partners. The commodity is sold at an inflated price compared to global markets.
District Criminal Investigation Officer (DCIO) David Wangai said the consignment of 200 bags was seized mid this month while 170 bags were confiscated on Friday.
He said the sugar was being held at the Mandera KDF camp. “I can confirm that the two consignments of the contraband sugar were seized and are currently being held at the KDF Mandera camp,” said Mr Wangai.
The United Nations and the Institute for Defence Analyses have previously accused KDF of engaging in illegal businesses along the Kenya-Somalia border, especially charcoal trade.
A UN report indicated that the importation of sugar and its smuggling into Kenya had continued unabated despite the take-over of Kismayu port by military personnel. Mr Ghure said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations had informed them of the contraband sugar that was confiscated by KDF troops on a patrol mission along the Kenya-Somali border.
The law allows only Ministry of Agriculture and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials to destroy illegal sugar.
Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Treasury and KRA to seal loopholes through which illegal sugar enters the country and name those behind the trade.
Last year, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) stunned Parliament when it claimed that it was not aware of illegal sugar imports in the country despite millers warning that illicit sweeteners were threatening the industry.
Cheap contraband sugar makes it difficult for local millers to compete, eating into their cash flows and limiting their ability to pay farmers in time.
Duty on imported sugar was increased 130 per cent in the 2015/16 budget to protect local millers.
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