Uganda protests Kenya’s 300pc sugar import levy

Imported sugar within the Port of Mombasa being loaded onto trucks.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

When Kenya’s President William Ruto signed the Finance Act, 2026 into law this week, raising excise duty on imported sugar by more than 300 percent, it triggered alarm among Ugandan manufacturers.

They fear the new tax could derail one of Uganda’s most successful export industries, threaten thousands of jobs and undermine years of progress in East African regional integration.