Farmers skeptical at Mumias lease to Uganda’s Rai firm -survey shows

Farmers in Kakamega County have treated the announcement of Mumias sugar lease award by KCB's receiver manager to Sarrai firm of Uganda with mixed reactions.

In a survey conducted by Market Analytics a research firm shows that, a majority of Kakamega residents did not have confidence in the award of the lease to the Ugandan firm associated with the Rai family.

The sample of 524 residents taken through phone calls and face to face interviews on Thursday December 23rd, 2021, showed that 67% of the residents are opposed to the award.

One of the factors driving the opposition was the possibility of legal challenges, expected to be lodged by a number of bidders, who claimed the process was not transparent.

Tumaz and Tumaz enterprises a firm associated with Mwale City investor Julius Mwale said it filed a lawsuit in high court challenging the award. The firm had the highest bid of shs 27.6 billion versus Sarrai's 11.5 billion.

Another 14% of survey respondents in Kakamega County supported the award and 19% were either undecided or were unaware of the lease award.