MP seeks to bar Uganda from importing sugar through Kenya

Lugari MP Ayub Savula has vowed to table a motion in Parliament to bar Uganda from importing sugar from other countries through the port of Mombasa.

Speaking at Makina Primary School in Lugari, Savula said his motion would seek to prevent cartels from using the recently signed deal between Kenya and Uganda to sell cheap sugar from other countries in Kenya.

Savula said that importation of cheap sugar into the country would cripple sugar companies, leaving thousands of farmers to languish in poverty.

The MP’s announcement coincides with CORD’s statement released on Thursday, saying that Uganda does not have surplus sugar to export to Kenya.

CORD claimed that the figures being floated regarding Uganda’s sugar production capacity are part of a conspiracy to manipulate Kenyans.

“As at December 2014, Uganda’s total sugar consumption projection stood at 420,966 metric tonnes with the total production capacity being projected to be at 438,400 metric tonnes,” read the statement in part.

The opposition referenced an article in Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper dated August 12, 2015 by Nicholas Kalungi quoted: “Unless Uganda’s sugar production capacity is increased, consumers will continue paying high prices for the commodity.”

This, the writer claimed, came after the operational sugar companies such as Lugazi, Kakira and Kinyara – among others – failed to meet the 2012 sugar production forecast.