The party for ‘sacred cows’ at the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) is finally over, with the government now opting to hand it over to private investors after years of loss making.
According to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri, the process of privatising the entity starts next week, as a taskforce has already been set up.
“We are going to privatise Kenya Meat Commission. We are in the process and we are setting up a task force next week, which will comprise officials from the Privatisation Commission,” said Mr Kiunjuri.
Livestock Principle Secretary Harry Kimtai is optimistic that “privatisation of the firm will make it economical viable and boost export of animal products from Kenya to other countries.”
“We have four international slaughterhouses and we are also building additional ones in four Counties. In total, we are going to have eight export slaughter houses. KMC has had its fair share of challenges which might not be addressed in any other way than through privatisation,” said Kimtai.
As of November 2018, the firm needed Ksh822 million funding to avert closure following low production and swelling pending bills.
In the year ended June 2018, KMC posted a net loss of Ksh228.1 million, as compare to a Ksh309.2 million loss made the previous year.
The troubles of the body have been attributed to political interference, obsolete machinery (upto 70 years old), and loss of the European Union market due to animal diseases.
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