I recently visited Raila Odinga (now deceased) at his private office in Kileleshwa. He had invited me to discuss the government’s recent decision to lease sugar companies — and to reflect on some of the major projects taking shape in Kisumu.
An engineer by training, Raila was in his element talking about manufacturing. His eyes lit up as he recounted how, as a young engineer, he had set up an LPG manufacturing plant from scratch — working out of a modest shed allocated to him by the Kenya Industrial Estates.
We spoke about a time when the State had strong institutions that genuinely supported local start-ups. He lamented how the liberalisation of imports had flooded the market with cheap alternatives, undermining home-grown manufacturing — especially in products like LPG cylinders.
Then I asked the question that had been on my mind: could he really be described as a successful businessman, given the fate of the Kisumu Molasses Plant — a project whose operations had to be halted. Did he still believe that the plant could be revived?
He paused for a moment before answering, as if weighing the question not just in business terms but in the broader context of Kenya’s economic journey.
To him, the problems that befell the molasses plant was because we lacked a comprehensive industrial policy. The absence, a forward-looking framework for regulating and guiding competition had also caused disruptive competition.
He narrated how the operations of the plant had started becoming economically unviable when Mumias Sugar Company-its biggest supplier of molasses - started competing with it in manufacturing ethanol.
And with nearly all state-owned sugar companies performing poorly and in different stages of insolvency, the Kisumu plant had been forced into importing the molasses from as far as Uganda and Tanzania.
Raila also lamented that state-owned long-term lenders that gave manufacturers long term and affordable credit were dysfunctional, forcing manufacturers to resort to funding expansion and rehabilitation through expensive overdrafts from commercial banks.
“The tragedy,” he told me, “is not that the factory failed. It’s that the State stopped believing in production as the foundation of prosperity.”
A 285-acre plot of land where the now defunct Kisumu Molasses Plant stands is earmarked for a major housing development called LV Marina.
Those remarks have lingered in my mind since his passing. Few Kenyan politicians of his generation were as passionate about manufacturing and the idea of value addition as him.
Whether you agreed with his politics or not, his industrial instincts were clear. He saw Kenya’s economic destiny not in trading or speculation, but in building things — in turning raw materials into products and jobs.
The question in my mind: Is it the end of the road for the molasses plant? From the conversation, it seems to me that Raila was planning to make a strong bid for the Muhoroni based agro-chemical and food company when it comes up for privatisation. His plan was to move the plant to Muhoroni and merge the operations of the two-ethanol producers.
But Raila’s biggest project is his investment in the project branded LV Marina- a Sh120 billion mixed-use waterfront estate development project in Kisumu, where he partnered with the GulfCap Real Estate group. Steered by the Mombasa-based real estate mogul-Suleiman Shahbal- the development is to be located in the 285 acres piece of land where the molasses plant is presently located.
Apart from personal business, Raila was also passionate about the plan by the government to build a 5,000 Mw nuclear power plant in Siaya. He challenged me to travel to South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda to assess their nuclear power programmes.
As the government once again talks of reviving sugar mills and investing in agro-industrial projects in the western region, I can’t help but think of that conversation in Kileleshwa.
Raila’s vision for Kisumu — as a hub of manufacturing, logistics and innovation — may have seemed ambitious at times, but it was rooted in a sound economic logic: that regions grow when they produce, not when they merely consume.
Today, as we debate leasing sugar factories, building new industrial parks, and attracting investors to the lakeside city, the challenge remains the same one he lamented — how to align policy, capital, and competence around production. Without stable institutions, consistent industrial policy, and credible local participation, these new ventures risk becoming yet another cycle of grand plans and dashed hopes.
Perhaps the best tribute to Raila’s economic legacy is not in speeches or statues, but in reclaiming the idea he championed throughout his life — that Kenya’s true wealth lies in the factories we build, not the goods we import.
The writer is a former managing editor of The EastAfrican
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