Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo has slammed President William Ruto's recent remarks that those corrupting the sugar business will have nowhere to hide.
In a Sunday roadside address in Kakamega County, President Ruto stated that his administration will not tolerate so-called sugar cartels. He issued a stern three-step prescription for the legal battles between creditors and the Mumias Sugar Company: withdraw the charges or face incarceration, deportation, or a trip to heaven.
However, the Makueni senator criticized Ruto's words as political posturing, claiming that the Head of State and minister of Agriculture during the late President Mwai Kibaki's administration should have dealt with rogue elements at the time.
"Unfortunately, the president has been on a campaign mood ever since [elections were over]. That gear has never been released, and he is campaigning for 2027. He was the minister for agriculture, and he did nothing about the cartels. He knows the cartels very well," Maanzo said on Citizen TV Thursday's Day Break program.
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President Ruto's remarks came after the kidnapping of notable businessman and millionaire Jaswant Singh Rai, whom he linked to the cartels he accused of sabotaging the government's sugar industry reform initiatives.
Jaswant, the owner of West Kenya Sugar, is embroiled in a court battle with his brother, tycoon Sarbjit Singh Rai, who controls the Uganda-based miller Sarrai Group, over a 20-year lease awarded to Sarrai and how Mumias Sugar was handed over to him.
Maanzo, on the other hand, regards the president's words as illegal threats for which he should apologize. According to the senator, Ruto should let the court decide whether Jaswant violated the law.
"I was in the National Assembly Agriculture Committee for 10 years. This is an attempt; by threatening Rai, he is then going to be released to the extortionists and be extorted so that he avers the fears of going to jail or is not prosecuted," the senator said on Thursday.
"He is Indian Although he is a Kenyan national, he is being threatened with extradition… that amounts to a threat and the president should apologise for that. They should arrest him if they have evidence against him."
So far, one of the entities opposing Mumias' leasing to Sarrai, Dubai-based Vartox Limited, has filed a notice of withdrawal with the Court of Appeal.
