KRA seizes 230 bags of smuggled sugar from Uganda

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers on Thursday impounded 230 bags of smuggled sugar valued at Sh810,000 from Uganda in Kitale. 

KRA customs officers said the sugar was packed in bags labelled Lugazi, a manufacturer based in the neighbouring country. 

The officers said the sugar "was being transferred by a group of men to a parked truck for repackaging into empty gunny bags branded Butali Sugar Mills'.

The alleged owner of the consignment Mr Daniel Mwangi was arrested and is due in court. 

Cheap sugar smuggled into the country has been blamed for the collapse of the sector in the country, denying farmers a source of income and the taxman the much-needed revenues.

Sugar accounts for nearly half of the goods smuggled across Kenya’s porous border points, a report released in 2020 shows. 

National Crime Research Centre data shows that 48 percent of all incidents of smuggling involve sugar.

The illicit trading of the sweetener happens mainly in eight counties including Garissa, Kajiado Narok and Migori followed by Mandera, Kwale, Trans Nzoia, and Busia.

Kenya’s protectionist policies that seek to limit sugar imports have kept the prices of the commodity high, making it lucrative to import illegally.

Since 2002, Kenya has sought to protect the local sugar industry by imposing import quotas from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) countries.

Kenya's sugar annual report shows that Kenya’s sugar production cost is estimated at more than $600 (Sh65,000) per tonne, twice that of other key sugar-producing Comesa countries, making the country an attractive export market.