Business Daily (Nairobi)
14 May 2008
editorial
The decision by Agriculture Minister William Ruto to freeze all sugar export licenses was long overdue and in the true interests of the suffering consumers.
For several years, the country has been awash with deafening protests over ever-rising prices of the commodity, but Government officials seemed to deliberately evade tackling the root cause of the problem.
In a characteristic cast of bureaucracy, excuses dominated the scene with most accusing fingers pointing at among others factory inefficiency and high cost of production.
The real problem lies squarely in the market chain where cartels made merry by manipulating prices through falsified artificial shortages that only turned into a mirage when scrutinized.
Any clever and probing mind would have asked why the country should export sugar when its own production cannot meet its needs? Furthermore, the mouth watering 20 per cent tax rebates that came with the export business were just irresistible.
Mr Ruto has got on the right track to weed out these cartels and should stay the ban on exports and protect local millers and consumers from the greed of these bad folks who don't have their interests at heart.
The number of Kenyans dependent on the sugar industry is huge and their livelihoods must not be sacrificed on the altar of evil individuals driven by nothing, but greed.
The Minister, however, cannot win this war alone and the State must show commitment to safeguard the sugar industry and all its people dependent on it.
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