Govt maintains no sugar deal signed

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Amina Mohammed maintains that Kenya did not sign any sugar deal with Uganda during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s three-day state visit.

Speaking during the opening of  Japanese Business Forum at Serena Hotel, Amb. Mohamed said the Sugar issue had been blown out of proportion since they only had meetings in Uganda where a lot of issues were discussed.

She said reports purporting that PresidentKenyatta and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni signed a deal are erroneous since deals or pacts are only signed by ministers or entities, which did not take place.

She added that her office was putting up a press statement to be run in the media thursday to show clearly what was discussed in Uganda.

The CS noted that if a deal was signed there would have been an instrument in the media already to that effect.

The only understanding that was reached was the scheduling of a discussion between the ministries of Finance, Trade, Agriculture and Sugar stakeholders  with the intention of setting up an East African Sugar Board.

According to her, the existence of such a board will ensure that sugar exported or imported by countries in the region are from within the East African countries and verify whether there is indeed a deficit in a country.

Rifts have continued to emerge over the issue with political factions taking hardline stance on the issue the latest being the war of words between CORD principal Raila Odinga and DP William Ruto.

By Too Jared