Kanyago yesterday said the legal fees, amounting to millions of shillings, should strictly be paid to lawyers who were given the greenlight by the court to represent KTDA in the cases. In November last year, a High Court ruled that, pending the resolution of the agency’s leadership dispute, Millimo, Muthomi and Company Advocates law firm was the legal representative of KTDA.
The 11 cases which had been lodged in court have since been withdrawn following mediation among all the parties that had fronted a total of 17 lawyers from different law firms.
Small-scale farmers from the tea-growing zones have made calls to their respective tea factories to defy remitting payments of legal fees originating from suits initiated by former factory directors.
“The high court ruled that the lawyers who were appointed by legitimate former directors are the ones who represented KTDA. Those are the lawyers that will be paid by KTDA. That is what the court determined,” Kanyago said.
“For the lawyers who were appointed by other parties in the cases, I don’t know what will happen to them,” he added. Kanyago served as the director for Chinga Tea Factory for 26 years before he was voted out during the 2021 KTDA elections.
KTDA Company Secretary Patrick Ngunjiri said they were able to negotiate and mediate the 11 cases that had been lodged in court by the former directors in opposition to some sections of the Tea Act.
Ngunjiri said that the move paved the way for inclusiveness in the KTDA elections slated for June this year.
“Every shareholder, either former or new directors, are now free to contest in the elections. But farmers should elect people of integrity who will deliver in accordance with the implementation of the tea reforms,” said Ngunjiri, who represents Iria-ini and Chinga factories at the KTDA board.
Recently, Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) chairman Jacob Kamau lashed out at two warring factions that have been yearning for the directorship positions at Chinga Tea Factory in Othaya, Nyeri County.
Kamau said that officials at the factory recently exchanged kicks and blows during the farmers’ Annual General Meeting (AGM) over the board membership.
The chairman said he summoned the officials at his Nairobi office to quell the tussles, but they have since escalated.
“It was a shame to see leaders, who were chosen to run the affairs of the factory on behalf of the tea farmers, fighting during a crucial AGM. Personally, I doubt whether the fights had the best interests of the farmers at heart. The June elections will put an end to this chaos,” Kamau said.