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Kakira speaks out on viral video of underweight bags of sugar
Kakira Sugar Limited General Manager, Mr Peter Van Greunen (Right), Mr Jim Mwine Kabeho, an Executive Director at Madhvani Group, address the media at the company’s offices in Kakira Town Council, Jinja District on June 19, 2024. PHOTO/PHILIP WAFULA
What you need to know:
- Mr Jim Mwine Kabeho, an Executive Director at Madhvani Group said some distributors’ drivers are on the run and the police have been involved, and encouraged wholesalers to always do random checks upon delivery, by haphazardly picking on one or two bags.
Kakira Sugar Limited (KSL) has addressed a recent incident involving a recording of underweight bags of sugar which went viral on social media.
In the four-minute video which was said to have been recorded in a supermarket in Soroti on June 13, ten 50-kg bags of sugar belonging to KSL weighed between 47kgs and 48kgs.
KSL General Manager, Peter Van Greunen, says the underweight bags were confirmed to be from KSL, with proper stitching, serial numbers, and digital tax stamp and place.
He, however, says upon inspection of each bag, it was discovered that all the inner liners had holes, indicating that sugar had been drawn out after the bags were sealed.
“The weighment slips from our sugar weighbridge showed no variation, confirming that the bags left our facility with the correct weight,” Mr Greunen said in an interview at the company in Kakira Town Council, Jinja District on June 19.
According to Greunen, their investigation concluded that the tampering with the bags occurred after the sugar had been delivered from KSL.
“This is supported by the fact that all pre-dispatch checks, including auto weighing scales, warehouse weighing, and exit weighbridge weighing, showed no discrepancies. Additionally, our weighing scales were calibrated in May 2024 to ensure accuracy,” he added.
KSL Managing Director, Mr Kamlesh Madhvani, said they have no control of the bags once they leave the factory, and described the incident as “regrettable”.
“We have been around for over 100 years and have no reputation of cheating our customers; when we see something like this, it is disturbing,” he added.
Mr Jim Mwine Kabeho, an Executive Director at Madhvani Group, blamed the incident on sabotage, saying people collect empty bags and use them to fill their own sugar to sell, knowing that it will go faster when it is in bags labelled ‘Kakira Sugar’.
He added that some distributors’ drivers are on the run and the police have been involved, and encouraged wholesalers to always do random checks upon delivery, by haphazardly picking on one or two bags.
