Former Sports CS Rashid Echesa on Saturday found himself in trouble with residents of Mumias after he tried to drag Raila Odinga into the woes that have engulfed the sugar industries.
In the video, Echesa is heard trying to convince the audience that Raila was behind the imminent sale of the sugar factories in western Kenya.
“Yule mtu ameshika kengele ya kuuza viwanda zote za mumias na viwanda zote za mkoa wa magharibi sio mtu mwingine ni Raila Amolo Odinga (The person who is pushing for the sale of Mumias and all other western Kenya factories is none other than Raila Amollo Odinga),” Echesa explained.
He was forced to cut short his speech after jeers and heckles from people who openly disagreed with him.
The residents accused the former cabinet member of playing cheap politics in order to remain relevant after his dismissal from the government.
The sugarcane industry has been faced with a myriad of challenges in the recent past that Echesa had tried to link to the former Prime minister.
The government announced that it was intending to privatise all sugar companies in a bid to solve the problems facing sugarcane farmers.
The information did not go down well with most residents of the area as they inquired about the debts owed to them by the sugar firms in case they were handed to private investors.
"Privatising the mills will disenfranchise farmers because decisions will be based on maximising profits at the expense of local farmers and communities," stated Priver Toywa who is the Sugar Veterans Consultative Forum (Suveco) Secretary.
"We want to see the Government create safety nets for thousands of farmers and workers in the sugar factories against job loss,” argued Otieno Mikara, a sugarcane farmer.
