The police have arrested a tea buying centre clerk with a faulty weighing scale in Kigumo. The weights and measures officers acting on a tip off arrested the collection clerk at Mathanjini buying centre with a detective weighing scale allegedly stealing 2.6 kilogrammes of green leaf from every farmer. Mathanja ini centre is affiliated to Makomboki tea factory.
The weighing and measures officials were accompanied by security officers attached at Kangari Police who arrested the suspect as his accomplices fled.
Murang’a county government CEC for Trade and Agriculture Mr Kimani Mugo said the arrest followed persistent complain raised by tea farmers at Mathanji Tea Buying Centre after the management of the factory failed to act nor conduct investigations.
” This was made possible after a group of farmers came to the Agriculture and Trade office and reported this issue,” said the CEC. Mugo asserted that the clerk, Field Service Coordinator,ICT and Factory Unit Manager are liable since in every 20kgs the farmer is losing 2.6kgs as per this weighing scale.
In the dramatic arrest, other clerks panicked and vanished since this has been the practice leaving the facility unattended. ” The clerks returned to the buying centre after the security officers left,” said Mugo.
The CEC added that the weight and measures officials will be conducting impromptu inspection on the weighing equipment without notice in tea and coffee factories. Paul Macharia, lauded action by the county government to swiftly address the longstanding complaint about the loss of 2.16kg net weight per bag.
” This has been a major problem where farmers lost thousands of shillings daily through the falsified weighing equipment,” said Macharia.