Kwale Explodes as Court Awards Sugar Firm Sh24B, Locals Plot Protests Against Directors and Push Ruto to Act on Alleged Impunity

A storm is brewing in Kwale County after a High Court ruling ordered the government to pay Kwale International Sugar Company Limited a staggering Sh24 billion in damages, with furious locals now mobilising mass demonstrations against the firm’s directors whom they accuse of racism, fraud and running the company like a colonial fiefdom.

The explosive ruling by Justice Florence Wangari has ignited a powder keg of rage among sugarcane farmers, unpaid workers and residents who claim the firm’s owners, the Pabari family and Mauritius-based Omnicane, have subjected them to years of suffering while enriching themselves through what they term elaborate money laundering schemes backed by State House and corrupt government officials.

Social media has erupted with calls for President William Ruto’s intervention, with residents threatening to make his government irrelevant in the coastal region unless action is taken against Kiscol’s management.

“The judiciary has been bribed. This is a con game to fleece taxpayers’ money and give kickbacks to State House while the Pabaris siphon and launder money to India as staff, farmers and locals suffer and die,” one angry resident posted, tagging the President.

The locals’ fury centers on accusations that despite operating on thousands of acres of public land with no competition, Kiscol’s directors have driven the company into the ground through mismanagement while refusing to pay farmers for their harvests, withholding staff salaries and failing to remit statutory deductions for the past eight years.

“The Pabaris have no intention of paying farmers or staff. They just launder money. Any money received by Kiscol is shared by State House and government officers and the Kiscol directors, then invested in India and London, leaving locals suffering,” another resident charged.

Workers paint a picture of directors who descend on Ramisi with arrogant lectures but leave behind a trail of unpaid wages, suffering retirees denied their dues and a community drowning in poverty.

“The Kiscol Pabari owners led by Director Kaushik, a man who can’t even allow Africans to board his vehicles, have no intention to pay workers or farmers. After bribing Ruto, the judge and KCB managers, they will simply siphon the money to invest in Indian bond markets,” claimed one worker.

The racism allegations are particularly damning. Residents accuse the directors of firing all local managers and replacing them with what they term “quack foreign staff with no work permits who don’t even know how to plant cane or manage a cane field in a proper manner.”

“The Kwale sugar directors are known racists full of abusive language towards locals and masters of corruption, bribes and deceit. Kwale needs real entrepreneurs like West Kenya and Kibos sugar, not con artists like Kiscol directors who think they are the only ones who should live,” one farmer fumed.

The community is also demanding answers on mysterious cane fires that have destroyed their crops, with fingers pointing at the company’s foreign staff allegedly committing arson on behalf of the directors.

“We shall demonstrate against the cane burning experienced by farmers and demand compensation from Kiscol, for the directors are the ones who send their alien staff to commit arson. The directors then mock locals while we all know they are the culprits,” residents warned.

Farmers whose lands have been auctioned off after taking loans in anticipation of payment for their sugarcane harvests are particularly bitter.

They describe an economic wasteland where children have been kicked out of schools, families evicted from their homes and a once promising agricultural hub reduced to a death trap.

“In the areas surrounding Kiscol, the economy is dead. Farmers’ lands auctioned, staff kicked out of houses, kids out of school. We need a real investor like Rai or Kibos to uplift our lives, not your conmen friends the Pabaris who don’t pay anyone nor have any respect,” they told Ruto.

Kwale Sugar directors.

The protesters are now making three key demands.

First, they want farmers paid for their harvests with compensation for destroyed cane.

Second, they demand that Kiscol staff receive all withheld salaries and statutory deductions spanning eight years.

Third, they want the land mortgaged by Kwale sugar returned to the local community.

“We are mobilising all Kwale sugar farmers to demonstrate against William Ruto and declare him irrelevant for supporting the theft and non-payment of farmers by Kiscol Pabari owners,” protest organisers declared.

The timing could not be worse for the President, who has been positioning Kenya as a safe destination for investors.

The court ruling, meant to vindicate investor protection, has instead exposed deep seated grievances about foreign investors allegedly exploiting local communities with government complicity.

“Stop chest thumping and come down to Kwale sugar. Walk and see the poverty in the eyes of the farmers and staff and locals. The Kiscol Pabari owners have entrenched poverty in the area and are ripping off the community through their lands. People have suffered and died,” residents challenged the President.

The allegations of government involvement in the scheme are particularly explosive.

Multiple residents claim that State House mandarins and government officers regularly visit Kiscol not to regulate operations but to collect bribes, allowing the directors to operate with impunity.

“Government officers only visit Kiscol to collect bribes. They regulate nothing. They can only do that with your support and backing. We want the Kiscol directors charged in a court of law for non-payment of staff and farmers and non-remittance of statutories. No more jokes,” they demanded.

The protesters say their grievances have been ignored for too long while the Pabari family has continued to live lavishly, hosting expensive weddings even as the community around them crumbles.

“The lives of people in Ramisi and Kwale cannot be put on hold due to the moods and whims of the Pabari family. We need to put our lives back on track. Kiscol is in our land. The Pabari Kiscol family are well known slave masters with a colonial mindset,” residents declared.

Activists and stakeholders in Msambweni and Lunga Lunga constituencies are now coordinating what they promise will be massive demonstrations that could paralyze the region.

“We are calling upon all activists and stakeholders in the region to mobilise and demonstrate against William Ruto and Kwale sugar owners. The directors used to come and only spew lies and fool the locals. Very arrogant and very discriminative people. They can go,” organizers stated.

The residents have issued an ultimatum to the President: either remove Kiscol from their land or find serious investors who will respect the community and pay their dues.

“If you can’t get an investor, return the land back to the community. We are not ready for the games by the Pabaris where they use our land to get rich,” they warned, adding ominously, “We are going to demonstrate against you here in Kwale and ensure you get no votes.”

The government now faces a delicate balancing act.

The court ruling reinforces Kenya’s commitment to protecting investors and honoring contracts, a key pillar of Ruto’s economic agenda.

But the explosion of anger from the Kwale community threatens to undermine that narrative if the allegations of exploitation, racism and government complicity are not addressed.

Kiscol has not responded to the allegations, while State House has remained silent on the growing crisis. The government has 14 days to appeal the court decision, but locals say time has run out for patience.

As one resident put it bluntly, “The Kiscol directors with no agriculture knowledge and with fake foreign staff have micromanaged the factory until it has gone down due to mismanagement, racism, pettiness, discrimination, stupid insults from the directors, money laundering and con schemes.”

With protests looming and a community at breaking point, all eyes are now on President Ruto to see whether he will intervene to address what residents describe as years of impunity, or whether the Sh24 billion court award will become yet another flashpoint in Kenya’s troubled relationship between foreign investors and local communities.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

President William Ruto at a past event.