Sugarcane farmers in Kisumu County have continued to push for quick implementation of the sugar task force report that recommended the leasing of five state owned mills.
Led by Kenya National Alliance of Sugarcane Farmers Organizations deputy chairman Charles Atyang, the farmers say some leaders are working behind the scene to delay the process.
Atyang singled out Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) chairman Wycliffe Oparanya, the Kakamega Governor and Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o for sabotaging the process.
The two leaders last week requested the national government to slow down the process to give room for consultation among the farmers.
Atyang says the move is ill intended and asked the government to go ahead with its plans and hand over the mills to strategic partners for a period of 25 years.
Speaking in Kisumu, Atyang called upon former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to reign on the leaders who are pulling the government back.
Atyang says Oparanya is out to frustrate the revamping of the sugar sector in the region since there is no government mill in Kakamega yet he is vocal on suspension of the leasing process.
He says the national government means well for the sugar sector but some leaders are hell bent to frustrate its efforts.
Atyang singled out the recent gazette notice on regulations by the cabinet secretary for agriculture Peter Munya which he says will herald a new beginning in the sugar sector.
