This is a post about Miwani; specifically the Miwani Sugar Company. It is not meant to arouse any emotions, nor clamour for political affirmative action. It is meant to bring people together, those who share a common origin from this humblest of places. You may not have been born, bred or raised in Miwani. You may even not have passed nor navigated its borders. The feeling of associating with this town turned hamlet is mutual. This post brings together Kenyans of goodwill who, by association or socialization, by birth or death, are brought together under this name: Friends of Miwani.
Miwani is no ordinary place. Its geographical boundary is varied for it sits in Nyando and Kisumu East Districts. Politically it rests in Muhoroni Constituency- our current Member of Parliament is Prof. Patrick Ayiecho Olweny (ODM) who also doubles as the Assistant Minister of Basic Education. Miwani is the home to the (in)famous Miwani Sugar Company- one of Kenya's eight sugarcane processing factories. The multi-billion sugar plant was placed under receivership in 2001. Currently, a skeleton staff of about 100 personnel assists the joint receiver managers in turning around the fortunes but nine years down the line, the process has been painstakingly slow.
Friends of Miwani will not forget the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Shem Migot-Adhola. While evaluating the economic potential of the company immediately after it had gone under in 2001, he produced a damning report. Miwani was inconsolable, structures were in dilapidated conditions, the machines belonged to the stone age, cane farms were under-served, and workers demoralized. While many people applauded him for the candid nature of his report, the bitter pill was difficult to swallow for the peasant casual employee who traversed as far as Kinango in Coast Province to eke out a living in this highly-promising industry.
What followed next was a massive chop of the workforce with workers weeping uncontrollably at the publicly pinned retrenchees at the main noticeboard. But there was to be a soft landing for the axed subjects. The government promised to look into the plight and the circumstances of the going-under and act in record pace to reverse the downward spiral. And you could see why. With over 10,000 acres of nuclear sugar estates, Miwani is top of the pile in land area under which a single sugar company owns. It also takes the prize as the only sugar company in Kenya with a sugar refinery - meaning that it can produce both brown and white crystalline sugar as well as smaller-grained icing sugar for industrial confectionery purposes. It is also the only sugar company with a distillery. When operational, the distillery churns out methylated spirit, distilled alcohol and baggasse for fuel purposes.
Currently the land is lying idle, grazed by domestic animals from neighbouring Kano Plains. The factory is derelict, rusting away from nine years of slumber. The once busy Kisumu-Nandi Hills road has lost its tarmac layer and acquired crater-like holes. Feeder roads leading into the dark estates are inaccessible. The entire infrastructure of Miwani collapsed the day the factory went to sleep.
As I go back to Miwani for Christmas next month, what do I tell these people?
Friends of Miwani will not forget the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Shem Migot-Adhola. While evaluating the economic potential of the company immediately after it had gone under in 2001, he produced a damning report. Miwani was inconsolable, structures were in dilapidated conditions, the machines belonged to the stone age, cane farms were under-served, and workers demoralized. While many people applauded him for the candid nature of his report, the bitter pill was difficult to swallow for the peasant casual employee who traversed as far as Kinango in Coast Province to eke out a living in this highly-promising industry.
What followed next was a massive chop of the workforce with workers weeping uncontrollably at the publicly pinned retrenchees at the main noticeboard. But there was to be a soft landing for the axed subjects. The government promised to look into the plight and the circumstances of the going-under and act in record pace to reverse the downward spiral. And you could see why. With over 10,000 acres of nuclear sugar estates, Miwani is top of the pile in land area under which a single sugar company owns. It also takes the prize as the only sugar company in Kenya with a sugar refinery - meaning that it can produce both brown and white crystalline sugar as well as smaller-grained icing sugar for industrial confectionery purposes. It is also the only sugar company with a distillery. When operational, the distillery churns out methylated spirit, distilled alcohol and baggasse for fuel purposes.
Currently the land is lying idle, grazed by domestic animals from neighbouring Kano Plains. The factory is derelict, rusting away from nine years of slumber. The once busy Kisumu-Nandi Hills road has lost its tarmac layer and acquired crater-like holes. Feeder roads leading into the dark estates are inaccessible. The entire infrastructure of Miwani collapsed the day the factory went to sleep.
As I go back to Miwani for Christmas next month, what do I tell these people?
