20/05/2025
STATEMENT BY THE PROGRESS PLUS ALLIANCE AGAINST THE LEASING OF SUGAR FACTORIES
Date: 20th May 2025
We, the members of the Progress Plus Alliance, representing a broad coalition of grassroots movements, farmers’ associations, youth and women groups, and civil society leaders from the Lake Region Economic Bloc—comprising Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Siaya, Kakamega, Bungoma, and Busia Counties—strongly and unequivocally oppose the leasing of public sugar factories under the current opaque and exclusionary arrangements.
Specifically, we raise our voices against the leasing of Miwani Sugar Factory (Kisumu County), Muhoroni and Chemelil Sugar Factories (Kisumu County), South Nyanza (SONY) Sugar Factory (Migori County), Nzoia Sugar Factory (Bungoma County), and Mumias Sugar Factory (Kakamega County) to private entities under unclear terms and without public oversight.
Our Position: The Leasing Process is Illegitimate and Detrimental
1. No Public Participation, No Legitimacy
Communities in Kisumu, Migori, Bungoma, and Kakamega have not been consulted. This violates Article 10 and Article 232 of the Constitution of Kenya, which demand public participation and accountability in public affairs.
2. Privatization Without Safeguards
Leasing factories for 20 to 50 years amounts to de facto privatization. There are no clear frameworks to protect the rights of over 250,000 cane farmers and thousands of factory workers who depend on this sector.
3. Dispossession of Local Communities
The land on which Miwani, Chemelil, and SONY factories stand is community land held in trust. Leasing these assets without community consent is an act of economic and historical injustice.
4. Past Mistakes Are Being Repeated
The failed leasing of Mumias Sugar Factory to Sarrai Group is a cautionary tale. It led to job losses, lawsuits, unrest, and further collapse of cane farming. The same trajectory looms over the rest of the sugar belt if this leasing trend continues.
Our Demands as Progress Plus Alliance:
1. Immediate suspension of the leasing of all public sugar factories;
2. A parliamentary and judicial review of the leasing framework to ensure legality and constitutionality;
3. Full disclosure of all shortlisted companies and lease terms, especially in the cases of SONY and Chemelil;
4. Restructuring of the sugar sector through:
5. Debt write-offs;
6. Injection of capital into modernization;
7. Professional, accountable management;
8. Farmer representation on boards;
9. The establishment of Sugar Industry Revival Committees at county level involving governors, MCAs, cooperatives, and farmers.
We stand in solidarity with Local Leaders and Communities and countless community elders, youth leaders, and farmer cooperatives in rejecting this economic betrayal. We further affirm the recent position by the Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (KNFSF) and support efforts by the Council of Governors to seek a people-centered sugar industry reform agenda.
Sugar is not just a crop — it is culture, economy, and survival in our region. Progress Plus Alliance remains committed to a sugar sector that is owned, run, and sustained by the people — not auctioned to politically connected cartels. We demand a halt to all leasing plans, and a return to the drawing board, led by the people, for the people.
Hon. Kennedy Ondiek
Chairman, PPA
