The government has started paying 300 million shillings owed by the farmers of the Nzoia Sugar Factory, President William Ruto has said.
He said the 1.7 billion shillings approved by the parliamentarians will greatly help the plans to revive the sugar industry in the country.
President Ruto said all Nzoia farmers will receive their money in the next two days.
Speaking at the Nzoia Sugar Factory grounds in Bungoma County on Thursday, the Head of State stressed that reforms are being made to revive the struggling public sugar factories nationwide.
“I want to assure you that the situation where farmers send their sugarcane to the factory and are unpaid will not happen again. The situation where workers are not paid their salaries will not happen again,” said President Ruto.
He said the administration, which will take over in Nzoia, must, among others, be ready to pay farmers and workers on time, apart from paying the Bungoma county government between 300 million shillings and 500 million shillings annually.
“I will meet with your leaders and agree on the right principles because many privatized companies can pay farmers and their workers. This means that the main problem in these public industries is poor management and not sugarcane farming,” said President Ruto.
At the same time, the Head of State assured residents that there were no plans to sell or privatize the Nzoia Sugar Factory.
“I want to assure you that we will have a new administration that will pay farmers and workers their debts and salaries on time,” said President Ruto.
He said the government will allocate 500 million shillings each to the sugar factories of Nzoia, Chemilil, Sony, and Muhoroni to increase production.
“We will increase funds for four sugarcane factories to enable farmers to produce more so that Kenya stops importing sugar into the country,” he said.
President Ruto also announced that Bungoma will benefit from 1.2 billion shillings to connect 25,000 residents to electricity.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa, Health Minister Susan Nakhumicha, Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka, MPs and Ward Representatives accompanied him.
Mr. Gachagua called on leaders to cooperate and provide solutions to challenges instead of creating more problems.
“Nzoia’s problems are internal, and leaders should work together to solve them,” he said.
Mr. Wetangula called for cooperation and unity in solving the problems faced by sugarcane farmers and asked the leaders to stop dividing the people due to evil and ignorance.
He praised President Ruto for his tireless efforts to revive the public sugar factories in the country.
Earlier, President Ruto said that every Kenyan deserves adequate and decent housing.
“Through the Affordable Housing Program, thousands of our young people can earn a living. Already, 130,000 young people are working on various projects across the country,” said President Ruto.
He said this when he laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Kanduyi Affordable Housing Project with 3,000 units in Bungoma.
The President also launched the construction of the Naitiri fresh produce market in Tongaren, which will serve more than 2,000 traders, including Mama Mboga.
The centre will also provide linkages to the local economy as part of the government’s revitalization of a marketing plan.
