Kalonzo backs CS Matiang’i on contraband sugar crackdown

Wiper Democratic Movement Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has applauded President Uhuru Kenyatta, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and the security agencies involved in the recent arrests of suspects linked to the contraband sugar saga.

The NASA co-principal’s remarks come only days after CS Matiang’i came under heavy fire for saying that the nabbed sugar is contaminated with mercury and other harmful substances.

Speaking in Wote, Makueni County, during the burial of prominent Machakos town businessman Peter Kamba, Kalonzo says the fight against illegal contaminated sugar and corruption must be encouraged, adding that he phoned the Interior CS to encourage him on the latest strides.

“I actually called Dr. Matiangi, I haven’t called him for long so I think it’s something to do with these handshakes, to encourage him because if you do not know how government works, the Minister for Interior cannot just open his mouth like that,” he said.

According to the Wiper leader, sugar cartels have successfully killed the country’s sugar industry leading to massive job loss especially in the Western region.

“When we were negotiating the East African Customs Union Treaty, we had to put safe guards, what we were calling the sensitive list to bar countries like Egypt, not to be allowed to export sugar to Kenya, in the effort to safeguard our sugar industry; now what has happened, it has collapsed,” added Kalonzo.

He encouraged the security agencies to move faster and confiscate the remaining contaminated sugar.