Mumias sugar company set to be shut down Indefinitely

One of Kenya’s once grand and most productive companies is set to breathe it last breath.

Mumias Sugar Company is set to be closed down indefinitely today following continuous cash problems according to a local media report.

Board chairman Kennedy Mulwa is expected to make the official announcement today following a special meeting with other members where it would be decided to pull off the plug.

The sugar company earlier this year was closed down for three months for maintenance and has since then never resumed its operation.

As a result of the impending closure, fear has gripped residents of Kakamega and employees of the company due to the hundreds of job losses the closure would bring along.

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The publicly-traded company has been operating on a loss since early 2000s. The listed firm reported a full year net loss of Sh4.7billion loss for the period ended June 2016 a loss of Sh4.64 billion posted in 2015, a two per cent increase compared to Sh4.64 billion loss posted in 2015.

The current Nairobi governor, Dr. Evans Kidero who served as the managing director of Mumias from 2003 to 2012, has been mentioned adversely as among one of the people who brought the country’s largest miller to its knees.

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Over time subsequent governments have tried to resituate the company with no success. On November 2016, the government of Uhuru Kenyatta gave the company Sh3.2 billion for revival.

It would be a painful exit to the government owned 20 per cent company which was once the pride of Kenya but is now a pale shadow of its former self.

A sad day for Kenya indeed.