Human rights groups and opinion leaders in Kwale have fired off a blunt demand: the government must challenge the recent High Court ruling that ordered it to pay approximately KSh 24 billion to Kwale International Sugar Company Limited (KISCOL).
They allege significant corruption within the judiciary, citing evidence that the payslips and remittance documents submitted by KISCOL were forged.
Beyond boardroom losses, they argue the real victims are the farmers and employees who haven’t been paid for months.
A shocking court verdict
On December 7, 2025, the High Court in Mombasa delivered a landmark ruling. Justice Florence Wangari found the State guilty of breaching its lease agreement with KISCOL – notably failing to ensure “quiet and peaceful possession” of the 15,000-acre tract in Kwale County.
The court held the government liable for allowing squatters onto the land and even carving out parts for mining by Base Titanium – without notifying or compensating the sugar firm.
The State’s defence, that KISCOL should have taken measures to protect the land or that the suit was time-barred, was dismissed outright.
What began as an agricultural investment morphed into a financial quagmire that decimated the company’s business model.
Losses
KISCOL was founded with a bold vision: a KSh 50 billion sugar estate, complete with irrigation, milling, power generation and ethanol production.
But squatters, competing ancestral claims and land carve-outs by the government stalled the project – cutting almost half the usable land.
The financial toll was heavy.
The court tallied additional project costs, refinancing, penalties on loans, and interest on delayed financing.
The sum, at least US $185.6 million (KSh 24 billion), will now be charged to taxpayers.
A community betrayed
But in Kwale, the reaction has been furious. Local farmers, unpaid workers and residents describe a bitter irony: as the company wins in court, they remain unpaid and disillusioned.
One local lamented: the workforce hasn’t received salaries for six months, and statutory dues have not been remitted.
Documents laid before the court – payslips and remittance certificates – are being contested as forgeries. The claim: the company used doctored evidence to claim non-payment losses.
Residents warn of protests if their demands are ignored: payment for cane delivered, wages for staff, remittance of statutory deductions, and a return of community land mortgaged under the controversial deal.
They accuse the firm’s directors, Kaushik Pabari and Harshil Kotecha, part of the Pabari Group and the Mauritius-based Omnicane Limited, of fuelling the crisis.
Allegations of racism, intimidation and money laundering swirl. One worker alleged:
“They bribe the State House, the judge and bank managers, then syphon money abroad – leaving us broke and helpless.”
Calls are mounting for President William Ruto to intervene, strip the firm of its lease, and restore land and livelihoods to the people of Kwale.
Legal integrity or judicial compromise?
The human rights groups are blunt: if evidence was forged, then the foundation of the ruling is rotten.
The payslips and remittance certificates, submitted as proof of losses, must be interrogated. Only then can justice be served.
They are also demanding transparency regarding who approved the award on behalf of the State, the methodology used for the calculations, and whether the entire process was influenced by patronage or corruption.
If the assertions are correct, this becomes not just a contract dispute but a human-rights scandal disguised as a commercial victory.
Appeal
The government has 14 days to decide whether to appeal. The decision will weigh heavily. Uphold the award, and taxpayers are left footing a massive bill while suffering farmers and workers go unpaid.
Challenge the ruling and risk accusations of undermining the rule of law.
But above all, the heart of the matter remains human beings: the farmers who expected income, the workers who expected wages, and the community that expected development. They got a court verdict. Not relief.
As Kwale braces for protests, the spotlight turns not just on courts and contracts but on the human cost of broken promises and the moral responsibility of a government that made and failed to honour them.
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