The government has moved quickly to quash viral claims that more than 5,000 sugar industry workers will be thrown out of work as public mills are handed to private investors.
In a statement released on Monday, October 6, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, through the Kenya Sugar Board, sought to calm fears after some media reports and union leaders claimed that more than 5,000 employees would be sent home as private millers take charge.
Officials say the claims are exaggerated and that the reforms are intended to save jobs, not destroy them.
Kenya Sugar Board Chairperson Nicholas Gumbo said the fears were misplaced. He explained that a majority of the workforce would continue under the new management.
“Eighty per cent of the current workforce will be absorbed by private millers,” Gumbo said.
Adding;
“The remaining 20 per cent, mostly those due for retirement, will be gradually phased out in line with retirement benefits settlements.”
Gumbo framed the transition as a necessary turning point for the ailing sector. For decades, factories such as Sony, Chemelil, Muhoroni, and Nzoia have struggled to operate at even half their installed capacity due to frequent breakdowns, a lack of spare parts, and mismanagement.
As a result, local sugar production has failed to meet demand, leading to high import bills and low prices for farmers.
“This transition is a silver lining for the industry. It will allow for modernisation and full maintenance of key factories. Once these mills run at full capacity, sugar production could double to 1.6 million tonnes annually, turning Kenya into a potential net exporter.”
The government has also emphasised that the leasing model will improve farmer welfare. Gumbo highlighted that farmers supplying cane to the leased mills are now paid weekly for their deliveries, a significant departure from the old system where payments were often delayed for months.
The governmnet believes that the faster cash flow will encourage more farmers to plant cane, boosting both production and household incomes.
Layoffs
For decades, Kenya’s state-owned sugar companies have been weighed down by chronic mismanagement, outdated machinery, poor farmer relations and massive debts.
These problems have turned once-thriving mills into loss-making entities that have often relied on government bailouts. Production has lagged far behind national consumption, forcing Kenya to spend billions of shillings on sugar imports each year.
The plan to lease the state mills to private operators, which began in earnest earlier this year, is the latest effort to resuscitate the struggling sector. It comes after years of failed privatisation attempts and stalled reforms.
The fears of mass layoffs were sparked in August when some mills issued redundancy notices as part of the transition process. The Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation and Allied Workers (KUSPAW) reacted sharply, demanding that all workers be retained. The union warned that it would call for industrial action if any jobs were lost after October 31, 2025.
Union officials argued that the state should protect workers from what they described as the harsh realities of commercialisation, especially in a sector where many employees have served for decades. The government insists that the redundancy notices were procedural and do not reflect the actual number of workers who will leave.
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