Saturday, June 17, 2023 – President William Ruto is in the shock of his life. This is after cartels in his government defied him and continued to operate with impunity.
After Ruto banned dairy products from Uganda, cartels are still flooding Kenyan markets with the same products in complete defiance of the president’s directive and thereby destroying Kenyan markets.
This was revealed by Kiambu Senator Karungo Thang’wa, who warned that cartels are flooding Kenyan markets with dairy products from Uganda despite the government limiting imports from the neighbouring country.
The Senator asked the Senate Standing Committee on Trade, Industrialisation, and Tourism, to investigate and issue a statement on the proliferation of dairy products from Uganda.
He also sought to establish whether regulations were formulated and implemented to protect the Githunguri Dairy Farmers Cooperative Society and other dairies from unfair competition from neighbouring countries.
Foreign products, he lamented, would edge out the Kenyan dairy farmers. Additionally, he requested the committee to explain if the temporary ban on milk from Uganda by the Kenya Dairy Board will favour Kenyan milk producers and farmers.
According to the lawmaker, measures should be taken to ensure a guaranteed minimum price on milk sales in Kenya in view of existing trade agreements between Kenya and Uganda.
Thang’wa also sought to be assured that Kenyan dairy farmers have a competitive advantage and are at par with other traders in the market.
In May 2023, the Ugandan Dairy Development Authority (DDA) argued that the directive by Ruto’s administration to limit its products from entering the Kenyan market affected its traders.
The authority lamented that Kenya slashed the number of export permits by an average of 20 per cent.
The stakeholders urged President Yoweri Museveni to engage with Ruto to revoke the ban.
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