Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi now says that President William Ruto did not overstep his constitutional mandate when he put on notice alleged sugar industry cartels.
Speaking to the Luhya community through a local TV station, Mudavadi said the head of state only said he would not allow cartels and sugar barons to exploit farmers in the sugar sector and other sectors of the economy.
He went on to say that what they are interested in as Kenya Kwanza government is the well-being of farmers.
“What we want is business people to be genuine. We want our farmers to gain from their toil in their farms. We don’t want the farmers to be exploited through middlemen who want to enrich themselves and leave our farmers in desperate states,” Mudavadi said.
The Prime Cabinet Secretary said Ruto has every good intention to streamline the sugar sector, which has been run down in debt for many years.
He said the President has initiated a process that will see the debt in the sugar sector which currently stands at about Sh117 billion written off.
Mudavadi added that there is a bill in parliament that will ratify this and support the resolution made by Cabinet.
"Our chairman in Bunge is Speaker Moses Wetangula who is the son of Mulembe and we know this will be achieved,” he said.
“Audits will be done and where loopholes will be identified that the investigative agencies, EACC and DCI through legal and constitutional mechanisms.”
Mudavadi noted that other than economic empowerment, healthcare and affordable housing, Western Kenya will also be prioritised as part of the agenda to liberate the people of the region.
On Monday, the President sent a stern warning to gatekeepers in the sugar industry that he would not spare them in efforts to streamline the sector.
His remarks caused an uproar from the Opposition and civil society groups in the country, who issued statements demanding that the president retract his words and apologise.
Ruto is on a five-day tour of Western Kenya.
He has since visited Busia, Bungoma, Vihiga and Kakamega counties, where he commissioned and inspected key projects that are aimed at transforming the economic fortunes of Western Kenya.
