Kakamega Court Halts Kenya Sugar Board Elections Until March 2026

Kenya, 15 January 2026 - The Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) elections have been thrust into uncertainty after the Kakamega High Court ordered a halt to the process until 19 March 2026, following a legal challenge that has exposed deep fractures within the sugar industry over power, representation, and control.

The dispute stems from a petition filed by Mr Boniface Masinde, a sugarcane farmer from Malava Sub-County, who moved to court under a certificate of urgency and secured orders stopping the elections.

Mr Masinde argues that Malava, one of Kenya’s largest sugarcane-producing zones, was unfairly excluded from representation on the national Kenya Sugar Board, a body that wields enormous influence over licensing, imports, pricing, and miller regulation.

When the matter came before Justice Mbugi, the court signalled that the stakes went far beyond an ordinary electoral dispute. In granting farmers seven days to be enjoined in the case, the judge ruled that “all parties with a demonstrable stake in the electoral process must be heard before irreversible decisions are taken.”

The petitioner was also given seven days to file counter-submissions, effectively locking the elections in legal suspense for weeks.

The legal freeze has injected fresh tension into a sector already under pressure from rising production costs, delayed farmer payments and increasing competition from imported sugar. With the KSB unable to fully reconstitute its leadership, key regulatory decisions remain stalled, deepening uncertainty for both farmers and millers.

Masinde’s petition taps into a long-simmering grievance in western Kenya’s sugar belt. Malava Sub-County is one of the most productive cane-growing areas in the country, supplying millions of tonnes of cane annually to major sugar mills.

Yet, according to the petitioner, it has consistently been sidelined when national policy-making bodies such as the KSB are constituted. He argues that this imbalance allows politically connected regions and corporate interests to dominate the board, often at the expense of ordinary farmers.

The case has, however, triggered a fierce backlash from organised farmer groups who now fear that prolonged litigation could cripple the entire industry.

A coalition led by Ezra Okoth of the National Sugarcane Federation of Farmers and Killion Osur, the federation’s National Secretary General, has applied to be enjoined in the suit, urging the court to dismiss Masinde’s petition. Their argument is that the legal challenge, while framed as a fight for fairness, is having the unintended effect of paralysing the sugar regulator at a critical moment.

They told the court that the freeze on elections is creating a governance vacuum at the Kenya Sugar Board, weakening its ability to regulate imports, supervise millers and protect farmers from market manipulation. In their view, the delay risks exposing the industry to exploitation by powerful traders and import cartels.

That fear is being sharpened by regional trade dynamics.

The expiry of the COMESA sugar safeguard period has opened Kenya’s market more widely to sugar from other member states, many of which produce at lower costs.