{"id":120982,"date":"2025-09-06T11:08:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T11:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/09\/06\/tension-at-muhoroni-sugar-company-as-staff-protest-illegal-redundancy-letters\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T11:08:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T11:08:24","slug":"tension-at-muhoroni-sugar-company-as-staff-protest-illegal-redundancy-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/tension-at-muhoroni-sugar-company-as-staff-protest-illegal-redundancy-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Tension at Muhoroni Sugar Company as staff protest \u2018illegal redundancy\u2019 letters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>KISUMU, Kenya, Sep 6 \u2013 Tension is brewing at Muhoroni Sugar Company as angry workers down their tools, protesting what they call illegal redundancy letters that ignore key entitlements, from unpaid salary arrears to missing gratuity and unremitted deductions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The protest follows the leasing of the state-owned sugar mill to West Valley Sugar Company in May 2025, under a 30-year agreement aimed at reviving Kenya\u2019s struggling sugar sector.<\/p>\n<p>Jacob Tolo, an employee at the company, expressed frustration over the contents of the redundancy letters, saying they were incomplete and unfair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe letter only includes severance pay but omits our gratuity. It also doesn\u2019t mention the NSSF contributions that were deducted from our salaries but never remitted,\u201d said Tolo.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the workers will remain on strike until the Ministry of Agriculture and the transition committee provide clarity on the missing components of their redundancy packages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are also insurance deductions and unpaid salary arrears that haven\u2019t been addressed. We are demanding justice,\u201d Tolo said while addressing journalists at the factory in Muhoroni, Kisumu County.<\/p>\n<p>Josephat Nyachae, the local workers\u2019 union chairman, echoed the concerns, stating that employees have been left in the dark with no official communication from the authorities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve continued working for the new company over the last three months, producing sugar, yet no one is concerned about our welfare. The situation is frustrating,\u201d said Nyachae.<\/p>\n<p>When contacted, Muhoroni Sugar Company CEO Gabriel Nyangweso clarified that the current lessee has no control over the employees\u2019 grievances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to their letters, the government will continue to pay salaries up to October 2025. Only after that will the lessee take over salary payments. These issues fall outside our jurisdiction,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Nyangweso added that although some workers are still on strike, many have returned to work after understanding the company\u2019s position.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMilling and maintenance operations are ongoing. Only a small group of workers remain outside protesting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Muhoroni is one of four state-owned sugar mills recently leased to private investors as part of a broader government initiative to rejuvenate the sector.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KISUMU, Kenya, Sep 6 \u2013 Tension is brewing at Muhoroni Sugar Company as angry workers down their tools, protesting what they call illegal redundancy letters that ignore key entitlements, from unpaid salary arrears to missing gratuity and unremitted deductions. The protest follows the leasing of the state-owned sugar mill to West Valley Sugar Company in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}