Sugar Scam: Ruto’s Pledge To Crackdown Cartels Endangering The Lives Of Kenyans Has Started To Bear Fruits
The Mt Kenya Times 
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- The other day I heard him taking on President Ruto following the revelations that Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) had been rocked by the new scandal.
- This was in relation to a botched Sh3.7 billion tender for supply of treated mosquito nets to low income households.
- The Global Fund, a Geneva based organization, had agreed to support Kenya in war against Malaria.
- The Fund had opted to withhold the money after its senior officials received information that one of the PS in the Ministry of Health and members of KEMSA board had hatched a plot to steal a huge chunk of donor money.
The public discourse is currently pre-occupied with reports that 1,000 metric tonnes of condemned brown sugar has been released to the market.
The Kenya Bureau of Standard (Kebs) records showed consignment arrived in 2018 and upon testing the results showed the sugar was unfit for human consumption.
Consequently, Kebs earmarked the consignment for destruction.
The other recommendation was that it should be converted into Ethanol.
This did not come to pass. Powerful personalities from Mount Kenya region and senior state officials stepped out and thwarted the move.
Reason? An opportunity has presented to mint billions of shillings.
While reports indicated that they were not the original consignee, one would want to know. How did they end up owning this sugar? Did they bought it? Did they used their influence to blackmail and intimidate the original owner to surrender the sugars?
Remember this sugar had already been condemned.
So, it was easy to have their way. They would tell the importer. If you fail to surrender it, you will not only lose everything but we will make sure you have been prosecuted.
Well, this scam was conceived at a time when the country was being governed by the ‘Handshake’ government led by President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
I’m, therefore, waiting to anxiously to hear Raila’s response.
The other day I heard him taking on President Ruto following the revelations that Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) had been rocked by the new scandal.
This was in relation to a botched Sh3.7 billion tender for supply of treated mosquito nets to low income households.
The Global Fund, a Geneva based organization, had agreed to support Kenya in war against Malaria.
The Fund had opted to withhold the money after its senior officials received information that one of the PS in the Ministry of Health and members of KEMSA board had hatched a plot to steal a huge chunk of donor money.
This is by awarding the tender to a supplier who will play the ball.
Reportedly, the supplier apart from buying a few pieces would have gone for substandard and nets of low quality.
Upon receiving report, President Ruto would not take this matter lightly.
He immediately cracked the whip by sacking the PS and entire board of Kemsa. He also called on anti-graft agencies to commence investigations and bring all the culprits to book.
To me, this demonstrated that Dr Ruto was committed to walk the talk.
We recall that during the swearing in of CSs and PSs he warned those who will engage in such malpractices that they will face his full wrath.
I have appointed you to help me in fulfilling the pledges I made to Kenyans.
If you deviate from these goals, you are not with me.
In light of this, it was too early for Raila to start attacking Ruto. This was like putting a cart before the horse.
It should be noted Kenyans witnessed the worst Kemsa scandal during the era of ‘Handshake’ government.
Reports indicated key allies of Uhuru and Raila took advantage of Covid-19 pandemic to raid and milk dry public coffers.
They were awarded tenders to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) given upfront all the money set aside for their respective tenders .
This was contrary to the Public Financial Management laws which required the bidders to be subjected to competitive bidding and those who have won the tenders to be first paid a deposit.
I remember during that time President Uhuru and his government defended itself by stating. This was a crisis that required emergency intervention.
To me, however, there was no justification to pay contractors all the money before supplying the PPEs, which were procured from outside the country mainly in European countries and China.
As it turned out, most of the suppliers did not deliver the equipment.
For others, they delivered a small number and substandard ones.
This explains how billions of shillings were diverted and lined up their pockets.
We ended up minting Covid-19 millionaires.
If Raila is sincere, I would have expected him to challenge President Ruto to call on anti-graft bodies to pursue them.
Turning to the condemned sugar, the President again moved with speed and purged 26 senior state officials drawn from KRA, Anti-Counter Feint Agency, Kebs and DCI who had slept on their job. He sacked and suspended some of them.
Further, the head of state called on anti-graft bodies to hunt down the main architect and bring them to book.
Reports indicated two MPs from Mount Kenya region and two senior state officials were the key players in this scam.
They had reportedly ordered the toxic sugar to be released to the markets two months earlier.
They knew they would rake in good money as the sugar prices had not dropped. A kilo of sugar is currently selling at Sh212.
The president is working very hard to reduce the high cost of living.
As we know, he assumed office at a time when the country was facing four main challenges; drought (the worst in 40 years), dilapidated economy, huge foreign debts, Russa-Ukraine war.
The country was also recovering from devastating effects of Covid-19 pandemic.
The price of 2 Kg packet of Unga was selling at Sh230 when he took over. It has now come down to between Sh180 and Sh190, a fall of Sh50.
As I conclude, this is what I want to tell Hon Raila. It is too early to criticize President Ruto. Give him time. For me, he means well for the country.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
Similar Posts by The Mt Kenya Times:
- Mt Kenya Times ePAPER August 28, 2026
- Kenya is losing fifteen mothers a day — and the numbers are getting worse
- Consolata International University opens new academic year with call to humanise artificial intelligence
- Written in gold, wielded in iron: Katiba@16 and the realities of power
- Mang’eni challenges universities to put entrepreneurship at the heart of learning
About the Author
