Kenya has been granted another two-year extension of the sugar safeguards by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) until February 2023.
It adds to the multiple extensions since the first time Kenya gained the protection in 2002, but with little to show for it in terms of solid reforms that would make the sugar sector competitive.
Nearly two decades down the line, several loss-making millers are on their knees.
A recent report by a government-appointed taskforce noted that the country has had sufficient time to be regionally and globally competitive in sugar production but is still lagging far behind in efforts to transform the sector. While the safeguards offer relief to millers who face competition from cheap imports, they are an indictment of the inefficiencies of the sector.
The sugar business is still besieged by numerous challenges among them high production costs, loss-making sugar factories, and illegal sugar imports that make it hard for local millers to operate profitably.
Perhaps it is high time the government quit asking for the Comesa safeguards and opened up the market fully. It may probably awaken the industry from its slumber.
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