{UAH} Pojim/WBK: What Gains For Jubilee After Mumias Bailout? | The Star

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/what-gains-jubilee-after-mumias-bailout

What Gains For Jubilee After Mumias Bailout?

The Luhya community has of late been on cloud nine. It has enjoyed an unparalleled limelight unprecedented attention from the high echelons of the Jubilee administration. It is the kind of interest that comes with an acknowledgment that one matters.

But it appears this attention had some lose strings attached. It came as a result of the misfortunes facing Mumias Sugar Company – the so-called giant miller – which is on the verge of breathing its last.

Self-styled experts on the economy of Western Kenya say the miller is the economic vanguard of the region. And even though this statement is only half true, it has such a strong power as to force President Uhuru Kenyatta to personally intervene and lead the initiative aimed at pumping life into a company that is all but dead.

Like a whirlwind, the President made unexpected tour of the company two weeks ago, handed the Sh1 billion bailout cheque and left as quickly as he had come.

He soon after pulled another quick one when he brought to an abrupt end what was shaping up as Eugene Wamalwa's 'Waiting for Godot' and hastily swore him in as the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Water soon after the Mumias rendezvous.

Not to be left behind, Eugene, who briefly served as the Minister for Justice in the sunset years of the grand coalition regime, exploited the occasion maximally. He mobilised his friends and tired politicians on his entourage to State House for the swearing, for what was probably the second-highest moment in his staccato political career.

The excitement was so obvious that the group, drawn from Eugene's native Western region, managed to snatch a moment with the President for that once-in-a life-time group photo on the lawns of the Big House, to cap what is probably the most exciting moment of some Luhya politicians in the last two years of Jubilee regime.

The common, though simplistic, view is that these two events herald the shifting paradigm and demonstrate a change of fortunes for the ruling coalition in a region that overwhelmingly voted for Cord in the last election.

It is like with the Sh1 billion handout, some within the government expect the Luhya community to gallop to the shrines of the King Omumia of the once upon a time Wanga Kingdom, go to their knees and offer prayers to the Jubilee Alliance for coming to the rescue for their cash cow.

This view is fortified by the statement attributed to Deputy President William Ruto, during the function, when he declared the funds was an indication the Jubilee government is developing the country equitably, regardless of how they voted.

However, the reality is different for Jubilee in this region.

First, despite claims by President Uhuru that the handover of the cheque was a nation-building endeavour, the reality suggests otherwise. The dynamic duo were in Mumias for hardball politics with an eye to 2017. It was a political campaign disguised as development agenda. These are tried, tested, tired and failed moist tactics of yore. The cash was a right but delivered as tokenism. The next election is not far off and the Jubilee regime must appear to care about every community.

Secondly, experts have projected that it requires Sh6 billion to redeem the fortunes of the miller. The state had promised to donate Sh2.3 billion but only gave Sh1 billion. The argument being advanced is that shareholders will chip in and raise the rest of the funds through a rights issue.

The Sh1 billion is a welcome effort, but it is laughable. Mumias Sugar is a national asset, and not the property of the Luhya people. In fact, it is listed on the Stock Exchange. The prime duty of any government is to protect jobs. It happened in the US when the Obama administration sunk in billions of dollars to save private motor enterprises from collapse just to save jobs. Jubilee is duty-bound to ensure every effort is explored to keep Mumias up and running to ensure the available jobs are protected at whatever cost. Reducing the serious economic problem surrounding Mumias to a dash for the 2017 votes is slipshod on the part of Jubilee.

Thirdly, despite the elaborate fanfare displayed during the Presidential visit, the Luhya leaders came out of the rendezvous looking bad, empty and, I dare say, cheap. Here was that rare opportunity for local leaders to get maximum concession from Jubilee – a regime that has deals with them through a mixture of jingoism and contempt. Mumias Sugar is in deep problems. Sh1 billion was nothing more than a handout.

The Somali say if what you want is a goat, you must demand for a camel. This was Luhya MPs' day to get concession from a government that has alienated the community. But they coiled as if they had no agenda. Instead, they turned the event into an occasion to sing the nauseating old-age odes that rocked the country in the 1980s at the high noon of Kanu rule.

You need not look further than Eugene to understand President Uhuru's low regard for the region, its leaders and its problems. After his nomination to the Cabinet it took ages for the President to inform Parliament of the decision. It took even longer to swear him in office long after Parliament had vetted him.

Eugene's humiliation demonstrates the President's, and Jubilee regime's low regard for the region. The leaders should have been ruthless in their demands. Just next door, the cadaver that is Pan Paper Mills stinks, with the residents delaying the burial because of constant promises of its resurrection. They are the same leaders who sang praises to former President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga when they visited and pumped life into this corpse. But the machines stuttered into silence just after Presidential limo chugged out of the area.

Just like them, Uhuru is a politician and the only reason he personally delivered the cheque is because of the numbers and the fact that 2017 is close by.

Fourth, the problem with Kenya is it suffers from an acute shortage of honest people. Truth is a tall order no matter who is involved. The country lives in fear of confronting the truth, even where mitigating circumstances are glaring. Does Mumias Sugar have a slight chance in hell to survive even if the required billions of shillings were pumped in? Is it salvageable? Is sugarcane as a crop viable to peasants in Western Kenya? These are not idle questions. They are key in making the ultimate decision on whether the bailout venture is viable, and that the peanuts being thrown are worth.

But because the leadership cannot manfully confront the reality, and its fears, we chose to run after shadows. Truth be told – Mumias Sugar is not on the life support for nothing. The miller lost the battle in virtually everything eons ago and all attempts to salvage it is like closing the stable long after the horse has bolted. The miller is a dead horse. Dead horses are buried, not flogged. With the battle lost, maybe it makes economic sense to close down the factory and encourage farmers to go back into subsistence. Subsistence farming is less glamorous, but it will give the farmers the comfort of food security.

By throwing in the Sh1 billion, the Jubilee government is trying to flog a dead horse. The miller's good days are surely in the past. No one wants to confront this reality. Referring to Mumias as a giant is an aberration. Abject poverty reigns in Mumias sugar belt, in spite of 42 years of the millers existence. Its contracted farmers find it convenient to sell their cane to small entities like West Kenya and Butali Sugar factories.

Though small, these small players offer prompt, and better pay for cane delivered. Every supermarket in Kenya has its own version of branded sugar even though neither of them has a milling plant nor an inch of the cane plantation. Significantly, sugar from these supermarkets retail at far cheaper prices than the Mumias branded sugar. Even if the miller ever regains its feet, the challenge will be how it will compete with these cheap imports that are brought in by the same people who descended in Mumias to ostensibly save the company.

Fifth, only incorrigible optimists believe that Mumias Sugar miller has a future beyond the Sh1 billion. Maybe that's why Uhuru was reluctant to pump in enough money to save the company from what is an obvious, and inevitable, collapse. The monster of the cheap smuggled imports remain. So is corruption, which no one, not even President Uhuru, is willing to confront. The deadline for the Comesa safeguards will never be extended forever – the high-level corruption in the sub sector which has made the Kenyan sugar uncompetitive.

What Gains For Jubilee After Mumias Bailout? | The Star

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/what-gains-jubilee-after-mumias-bailout

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