Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has blamed corruption and poor management for the decline of Mumias, saying the town has lost the economic vibrancy it once enjoyed.
Speaking during a church service in Mumias on Sunday, Sifuna said the town was once one of Kenya’s most thriving urban centres, driven largely by the success of the Mumias sugar industry.
He said the collapse of the industry had hurt farmers, workers, traders and families whose livelihoods depended on it.
“Mumias, when we were growing up, was one of the most thriving towns in this country. Mumias was a town that was thriving,” Sifuna said.
The Senator further explained that Mumias had since become “a shell of what it used to be”, blaming the decline on corruption and accusing people in positions of influence of making decisions that benefited their allies at the expense of local residents and farmers.
“Mumias is now a shell of what it used to be. And that is because corruption came in.”
Sifuna noted that the decline of major economic projects had affected more than the factories themselves, arguing that the collapse had disrupted employment and business opportunities for thousands of people who depended on the sugar industry.
He recalled the contribution of Mumias Sugar, saying the company had been among the biggest taxpayers in Western Kenya when it was operating at full capacity.
“When Mumias was operational, it was one of the biggest taxpayers in Western Kenya, paying up to Sh60 billion a year to the Exchequer,” Sifuna noted.
He said farmers, traders, employees and families had all depended on the sugar industry, warning that the collapse of major projects ultimately affected ordinary Kenyans.
“When those projects collapse, Kenyans are the ones who suffer.”
The senator’s comments come amid renewed political debate over the future of Mumias Sugar and other struggling industries in Western Kenya.
Trans-Nzoia Governor George Natembeya previously pledged that the opposition would reclaim Mumias and Nzoia sugar companies, as well as Webuye Pan Paper, if it takes power after the 2027 General Election.
“We don’t want political projects in the Western region. Those who bought the Mumias, Nzoia, and Pan Paper factories, we are telling them that once we come into power, we will chase them away. We will reclaim our property,” Natembeya said in July 2025.
The government leased several public sugar factories to private millers as part of efforts to revive the sector. Nzoia Sugar Company is among the factories awarded a 30-year lease.
The future of Mumias Sugar and the wider Western Kenya economy is expected to feature prominently in political campaigns as leaders intensify grassroots mobilisation ahead of the 2027 elections.