Kabras sugar boss: Who is Jaswant Singh Rai?
Jaswant Singh Rai, recently in the news for a two-day kidnapping, hails from the Rai family, one of Kenya’s richest, controlling major interests in edible oils and sugar.
Whether you want to delve into the fortune or misery of Kenya’s sugar industry, it’s hard to miss the Rai family somewhere between the lines.
Under Jaswant’s watch, the family has extended its dominance in the sugar sector by accounting for nearly half of the entire production of the sweetener.
With the opening of a new milling factory in Naitiri, Bungoma County, data from the Sugar Directorate indicates that the four firms owned by the business mogul account for over 45 per cent of the total sugar sales in the country.
To fill the space of the once best-performing State-owned mills, Rai Group which also runs West Kenya, Olepito and Sukari Industries has straddled the turbulent industry like a colossus to establish itself in Western and South Nyanza sugar belts.
The Rai family’s influence in the sector has not gone unnoticed by the government. Yesterday, President William Ruto challenged Mr Rai over the state of the country’s sugar industry.
“Msikuwe na wasiwasi niko hapo chonjo kabisa. Nitahakikisha hii kitu inakaa chonjo. Na wakora wote wako katikati. Msikuwe na wasiwasi ati kuna mtu atakuja kutuongelesha kingereza. Sijui mhindi fulani. Sijui nani ni nani. Sijui mwingine ananiambia Rai. Rai Nani? Hapana hiyo haiwezekani,” he said during his ongoing tour of Western region.
The bid to privatize Mumias Sugar Company which used to be the country’s leading sugar producer introduced Kenyans to another Rai sibling who is a towering operator in neighbouring Uganda.
This is after Sarrai Group, led by Kenyan businessman Sarbi Singh Rai, won a 20-year lease to manage assets of the fallen giant that used to produce up to 8,000 tonnes of cane per day (TCD) during its peak time before it sunk due to poor management.
Jaswant whose father died on December 28, 2010 in Mumbai India, is the son of tycoon Tarlochan Singh Rai while Sarbi’s father was Tarcholan’s brother.
Sarbi’s father migrated from his native India to Kenya before being joined by Jaswant’s father who also opened his own chain of business.
After the death of their fathers, the two sons expanded and separately diversified their business before Sarbi moved to Uganda to set up Sarrai Group. It also has operations in Malawi.
In Uganda, Sarrai operates Hoima, Kinyara and Kiryandongo sugar factories which have over 20,000 hectares of its nucleus estates and a total installed capacity of 19,000 TCD.
Sarrai Group also owns a number of companies whose interests span from plywood, wheat, soap, edible oil and mattresses companies.
However, Sarrai’s bagging of the Mumias Sugar Company contract sparked a major business rivalry between the cousins after West Kenya Sugar, chaired by Jaswant Rai, missed out on the bid to secure the ailing miller, which was placed under receivership by KCB Group in September 2019.
Mr Sarbi and Jaswant took different paths in the wake of family disagreements that culminated in a vicious court fight for the control of the Rai family’s multibillion-shilling estate.
Sarbi’s two brothers teamed up with their mum to take on their brother Jaswant over the distribution of wealth left behind by their father.
At the centre of the dispute is the will dated December 17, 1999, allegedly left behind by Tarlochan.
The widow, Sarjij Kaur Rai, together with her sons, Jasbir and Iqbal, have objected to the will, saying the patriarch could have been coerced in crafting the document that distributed his assets among his eight beneficiaries.
The family has interests in cement production (Rai Cement), eduble oils and soaps (Menengai Oil refineries), sawmilling (Timsales, Raiply and Webuye Panpaper), wheat farming, horticulture and real estate (Tulip Properties).
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