This archive report was first published on 18 June 2021.
On June 9, 2021, the Senate's Agriculture Committee directed the receiver manager to re-advertise the bid to salvage Mumias Sugar Company within 14 days.
However, activist Okiya Omtatah has moved to court to temporarily suspend this directive, citing concerns over the secretive bidding process initiated by the receiver manager, Ponangipalli Venkata Ramana Rao.
The receiver manager had invited eight investors, including Catalysis Group of Russia, Sarrai Group of Uganda, and Kibos Sugar and Devki Group from Kenya, among others, to bid for the company.
But Omtatah claims that none of these bidders had the capacity to revive the company, leading to fears that the receiver manager was planning to dispose of the company to his cronies for a song.
The court documents also reveal that the receiver manager, Rao, had previously sold scrap metal to the purported lead bidder, Devki Steel Millers Ltd, while he was the receiver manager at Kwale Sugar Company.
Furthermore, Omtatah alleges that Rao has mismanaged the ethanol operations at Mumias Sugar Company, shutting them down in March 2021, and has also neglected many assets of the company, including the Nucleus Estate and machinery, resulting in huge losses due to the deterioration of the assets.
The neglected assets, especially the nucleus estate, pose a danger to the public, and Omtatah has expressed his concerns over the receiver manager's failure to protect the company's assets and maintain its operations.
