- Cane farmers have issued a political warning to President William Ruto and Western region MPs over proposed changes to the sugar sector.
- The farmers have rejected a proposed law that would transfer key financial powers from the Kenya Sugar Board to another state agency.
- They are demanding the election of the board’s directors before Parliament considers changes to the Sugar Act.
“We are going to vote out both the President and Western region MPs if they fail to push for the constitution of the Kenya Sugar Board and stop the proposed Crops Laws (Amendment) Bill.”
These sentiments were echoed at a public participation forum on the Crops Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in Kakamega County. The forum took a new twist when angry cane farmers threatened to unseat President William Ruto and Western caucus MPs, led by Ikolomani MP Bernard Shinali, over their failure to protect the sugar sector from exploitation.
Airing their views at Mukhonje Friends Church in Lava Constituency, the irked farmers, accompanied by their various representatives, stood their ground and angrily rejected the Kimani Ichung’wa-sponsored bill. They termed it a crafted syndicate meant to defraud the yet-to-be-constituted Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) of its farmers’ levies.
The farmers maintained that they would not allow any bill to be amended and passed before the election of the board’s directors and the constitution of the KSB. The directors’ elections have been suspended twice through court petitions, a move cane farmers allege is calculated by Parliament to ensure the Crops Laws bill is passed. They claim the bill would take the financial lending powers from the KSB and give them to the Kenya Agribusiness Development Corporation (KADCO), rendering the board financially handicapped.
The farmers were reacting to the troubling bill, sponsored by Leader of the Majority Party Kimani Ichung’wa and published in the Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 134 of June 5, 2026. It proposes the amendment of several Acts of Parliament, including the Sugar Act (No. 11 of 2024), the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization Act (Cap. 319) and the Tea Act (Cap. 343).
The proposed bill seeks to remove the financial lending powers from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), the KSB and the Tea Board of Kenya. It would instead transfer them to a newly constituted body, KADCO, a limited company formed under the State Corporations Act (No. 25 of 2025).
If the bill is passed into law, the KSB will lose 40 per cent of the farmers’ cane development and productivity levy to KADCO, which will take over the lending process.
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Sugarcane farmers oppose bill shifting lending powers to KADCO
Further, if the bill sails through, it will give KADCO powers to strip the KSB, the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) and the Commodities Fund of their lending powers, making it the sole lending body.
It is these proposals that have angered the cane farmers, who say the government is trying to shortchange the KSB to the benefit of other boards.
The farmers, drawn from both West Kenya (Kabras) and Butali sugarcane growers, unanimously mounted a spirited fight against the bill. They sent a stern warning to Ichung’wa that he was tainting the political support the President enjoys in the region.
The representation included the Butali Sugarcane Out-growers Association, West Kenya Sugarcane Out-growers Limited (WEKOL), Butali Sugar Mills, the Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers, the office of the Kakamega County Senator, Bunge la Mwananchi Butali chapter, the Lava MP, KSB directorship aspirants and farmers. They all ganged up to refute the proposed bill, terming it draconian.
The parliamentary committee team assigned to conduct the exercise in the Western region, including Busia, Bungoma and Kakamega, was led by its chairman, John Mutunga (Tigania West MP). Kwanza MP Ferdinand Wanyonyi, a member of the committee, had to heed the demands of the farmers, who did not mince their words.
VIDEO: Chairman of the parliamentary committee on agriculture John Mutunga Mp Tigania West giving an overview of the public participation
West Kenya Sugarcane Out-growers Limited chairman Joseph Musanga Indumuli said they were opposing the bill because it violates the 2024 Sugar Act by removing lending functions from specific agricultural bodies and redirecting them to KADCO.
He argued that the government, through KADCO, was planning to return the 40 per cent to the miller instead of the farmer, yet the miller already has its share. He accused both Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and Ichung’wa of hatching a plot to rip off cane farmers.
Butali Sugarcane Out-growers chairman William Kopi expressed faith in the committee but lashed out at the region’s political leadership for their lack of vocal support for farmers’ interests. He announced that he would rally his farmers to reject the bill at all costs and instead support the strengthening of the KSB through the election of directors.
“As farmers, we are demanding that no bill is amended until the scheduled November 18, 2026 KSB elections are held and the directors are sworn into office, so that they can also give their views on the transfer of the 40 per cent cane development levy from their kitty to that of KADCO,” he said.
VIDEO: Butali Sugarcane Outgrowers Chairman William Kopi giving the stand of the Butali cane farmers.
Kenya National Sugar Federation chairman Isaac Watambamala hit out at MPs for failing to stand up and protect cane farmers from many years of humiliation and exploitation. He threatened that the federation would move to court if the committee did not capture and present the views raised at the meeting.
He wondered why the committee was in a hurry to pass the bill when the 2024 Coffee and Cotton Acts were yet to be implemented. The federation rubbished the bill and its proposer, saying they had no idea how cane farming is conducted.
Butali Sugarcane Out-growers director Richard Shiyonga questioned the timing of the bill, especially when the KSB directors’ elections had been suspended.
Farmer Sabu Kofia said KADCO was targeting to fleece the KSB funds before the directors’ elections were allowed, with the funds aimed at improving other sectors such as tea, coffee, cotton and pyrethrum. He suggested that each sector have its own board to handle its finances independently, adding that combining sugar levies with those of other crops would be a huge loss to cane farmers.
The farmers further doubted that KADCO would service loans to farmers, since the KSB only required a contract between the farmer and the miller for one to be served.
Daniel Tuvei, representing small-scale farmers who make up 85 per cent of growers, warned that the bill was politically suicidal with only 10 months to the general election.
“This Crops Laws (Amendment) Bill, if passed, will have a very devastating impact on the presidential and Western region parliamentarians from cane growing zones. The government should therefore tread carefully, for this is its litmus test of what lies ahead in the coming polls. Cane farmers have suffered for many years, and when they thought the Kenya Sugar Board was coming to salvage them, you planted stooges to run to court to block its election. Then you bring a bill and expect the farmers to support it. We need a fully constituted KSB before anything else, and our stand will remain that way,” he said.
By Wakhungu Andaje
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