Unmasking Sarai Group, Vicious Wolves In Sheep Skin

The darkness surrounding the bidding process around Mumias Sugar Company keeps on getting thicker.

As a recap, the bidders, New Mumias Sugar/ Devki Group had a total bid of 59.2 billion shillings while West Kenya Sugar placed a bid of 33.3 billion shillings. KE International had a total bid of 25.9 billion shillings while Kruman Finance placed a bid of 14.1 billion shillings.

At the same time, Pandal Industries had a total bid of 5.3 billion shillings followed by Kibos Sugar with a total bid of 3.7 billion shillings. Sarai Group had the lowest bid of 3.1 billion shillings.

Perhaps the largest controversy that surrounded the whole thing is how the lowest bidder and one who will take a whole 10 years to pay back debts was picked as the best to run the resurrection of Mumias Sugar Company.

As the controversy continues, the real victims of the whole thing are farmers whose money is still in the hands of Mumias Sugar Company after it collapsed without paying them; the employees who have stayed for years without their salaries; and the shareholders who wait daily to see their company back at the NSE.

But in all these, who are the Sarai Group? Are they competent enough to run Mumias Sugar Company? Are they serious about clearing the debts and returning the machine back to its original roaring power? Do they have what it takes in terms of integrity, respect for human rights, and labor laws? Do they even respect the environment?

Did you know that Sarai Group owns a company called Hoima Sugar Company Limited (HSCL) in Uganda? And do you know that this company has been accused of grabbing land belonging to over 40 poor families in Rwekobe and Rwembaho in Kabwoya Sub-County, Kikuube district? They mercilessly evicted people, grabbed their land, and planted sugarcane.

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In fact, it has been documented that, residents held demonstrations and stormed district offices demanding to know why Hoima Sugar Company was persecuting them and removing them from their ancestral land. The company claimed that it had the right to own the land for 99 years.

Hoima Sugar Company, owned by Sarai Group (let nobody lie to you that they are not related), did not stop there. They grabbed a whole forest, Bugoma, cleared it, and are planting sugarcane. Was it not for the protest of families around the forest and environmentalists, the whole forest, 22 square miles, would be sugarcane?

It seems they have no regard for human life. More than 1,000 families in the three sub-counties neighboring the Bugoma central forest reserve in Kikuube district are still living in fear that their ancestral land could be grabbed by the factory if the company wins the battle to destroy Bugoma forest reserve for sugarcane growing.

The residents are from the sub-counties of Kyangwali, Kabwoya and Kiziranfumbi. Over 30 villages are bordering the contested forest reserve. The villages are Nyairongo, Rwembaho, Rwenkobe, Sayuni, Kabegaramire, Muhangaizima, Nyambogo, Karokajengwa, Mukarehe, Katengeto, Burungi, Muyenga, Karukarungi and Kimaramu. Others are Sayinebe, Karodi, Buzibwera, Kitoma, Mukayembe, Nyakabale, Ndongo, Kasene, Nyaigugu, Nsozi, Kyarushesha, Kikonda, Kitooke, Kisonsomya, Nyakabale, Kyabasana, Bujongoro, Kyabayanja, Kisindi and Rwenkobe among others.

The sugar factory rented close to 22 square miles of the contested Bugoma central forest reserve land from the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom for sugarcane growing for 99 years and has insisted that the forest must be cleared for sugarcane to be planted.

The Group owns another Sugar Company called Kiryandongo Sugar Limited. This company too has been accused of grabbing land, part of the 2,400-hectare sugar cane plantation project where an estimated 35,000 people are in the process of being evicted to make way for the project and other two by other companies.

“They robbed us and evicted us with guns,” says 60-year-old Florence Nassaka, a resident in Canaan village who was evicted by Agilis Partners. “What kind of development did they bring? Do they give us some of that maize that you see there? Try walking into that maize farm and pick just one maize cob, see what will happen to you! It is only for the white man. The worst thing is that the authorities in Kiryandongo did not help us at all; they just ate the white man’s money and moved on.”

So, are we going to give people who are not serious as to when they should pay farmers, former employees, and creditors to run Mumias Sugar Company? Are we going to allow people accused of mass eviction in the neighboring country to revive Mumias Sugar?