I know the man behind the poisonous sugar – Raila’s kin says

NASA leader Raila Odinga’s cousin on Tuesday claimed that he knows the man whose company has been linked to the importation poisonous sugar laced with mercury and copper.

Speaking during an interview on NTV, former Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo outrightly stated that he was not afraid to name one Rai as the person behind the killer sugar.

"I know Rai. He cannot kill our people and we keep quiet," he said.

Rai Paper Mills hit headlines last week after contraband sugar worth Sh250 million was impounded at one of its warehouses in Webuye, Bungoma county.

There were no documents to show the origin of the illegal sugar labeled Brown Sugar Not for sale. However, police placed a 24-hour police surveillance as investigations were launched.

Midiwo, who was challenging Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi to name individuals behind the importation of illegal sugar, noted that Rai was not simply a company.

“You are paid by the public to protect them,” Midiwo fired at Wamatangi. "This Rai person is a human being, Rai is not a company. We cannot scuttle around issues. What is there to be scared about?"

“You cannot come before us as a Member of Parliament and tell us you do not know,” the former MP said.

Midiwo opined that privatization of sugar companies was what has led to the importation of illegal sugar.

"I know what some of these crooks are trying to do in Yala swamp. They are constructing a sugar factory in the swamp. I want to tell all the people of the sugar belt, 'don't allow this thing called privatization' then you will stop this thing of importation of sugar which is laced with chemicals,” he claimed.

He further alleged that Rai was connected to powerful individuals in Government noting it was a deep corruption involving high ranking-people.

"I want to challenge President Uhuru Kenyatta 'the way you are talking about corruption, narrow down to the sugar sector'. So that the people of Western Kenya will begin to feel like poverty is not being meted on them by the Government. Talk about sugar if you are the President of Kenya,” he said.

Midiwo concluded by stating that the sugar money had corrupted the politics of Kenya.

Interior and Coordination Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i told journalists that a test conducted on contraband sugar revealed that it was laced with mercury and copper.