Don’t fall for frauds, Pamela Benchi urges cane farmers ahead of KSB elections

Sugar cane farmers from Western Sugar Zone have been urged not to be dissuaded by handouts and end up electing leaders unfit to represent them as directors at Kenya Sugar Board (KSB).

An aspirant for the Zone’s directorship in the impending election of farmer’s representatives to the Board, Pamela Benchi, said voters should choose their leaders wisely lest they end up with people who don’t have their interests at heart.

Farmers, she went on, should choose a leader who will protect and fight for better cane prices if elected.

“You should not go for peopel who will buy your vote today only to go and recover their money once elected and ignore your needs as farmers,” she said.

She said this over the weekend when she addressed Malava Friends Church congregants in Kakamega North Sub-county.

Benji described herself as the best suited for the seat stating she was accessible, accountable and committed to serve farmers.

KSB was set to hold the election of farmers representatives late last year but the polls were suspended following a court case instituted by a farmer from Malava sugar growing zone.

The high court sitting in Kakamega deferred to March 19 the hearing of a petition challenging the election of Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) directors.

The petition was filed under a certificate of urgency by Malava cane grower Boniface Masinde, who sought orders to halt the planned elections until the matter is heard inter partes.

Masinde argued that the zoning framework adopted by the sugar industry regulator unfairly excluded Malava, one of the largest cane-growing areas in the region, from having its own representative on the board.

Presiding over the matter, Justice Stephen Mbugi postponed the hearing after granting an application by advocate Millicent Muyoka to have farmers formally enjoined in the proceedings as interested parties.

Masinde is challenging the zoning framework under the new Sugar Act, which was assented into law by President William Ruto in 2024. He told the court that the delimitation of board boundaries was unfair and unconstitutional, particularly the failure to allocate Malava its own electoral zone.

He argued that the current zoning disenfranchised farmers from Malava and undermined the principle of equitable representation, warning that allowing the elections to proceed would lock out a major sugar-producing area from meaningful participation in sector governance.