A protest is looming in tea growing areas with farmers rejecting a proposal by Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) that will force factories pay for the legal suits that were instituted by the former directors.
Across Mt Kenya region, the farmers in their meetings have warned their directors against approving any payments towards paying the legal fees incurred by the former directors when they instituted a legal mechanism to discredit the current directors.
The farmers are in support of a crusade by Gatundu South MP G.G Kagombe who has accused the regulator of imposing the cost of the suits on the farmers who were not a party to the dispute. The farmers conform with the TBK directive that they go to the polls by the end of June, saying there were no justified reasons the Sh500 million legal expenses be pushed to the factories.
Kagombe warned the TBK against imposing the factories to pay for the lawsuits saying he has written a protest letter to the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mr Mithika Linturi. “Am bitter that the former directors through the TBK are passing the cost of the suits to the farmers,” said Kagombe when he addressed the small-scale tea growers.
The lawmaker said the TBK imposed a clause in the mediation report that the legal fees be paid by the tea factories, a move that has been objected to. In Murang’a and Kirinyaga county, tea farmers have dared their management against remitting any resources to pay for the suits.
The fees, they said should be paid by the former directors who moved to court to challenge the election of the directors they labeled ‘Mlolongo’ Kirinyaga KTDA board member Timothy Mithamo Wasusan is opposed to TBK directives saying he was inclined to the former directors who are out to make the sector ungovernable. move to entertain the former directors.
” It is unfortunate that TBK has been a soft landing for the former directors after they lost a platform among the farmers,” said Mithamo.
A tea farmer, Mr Nelson Mwaura said the former directors should carry the burden in paying the suits, as they engaged the lawyers in their own capacity. “We have warned the directors at Mununga tea factory that no payment should be effected to pay for the withdrawn suit without our consent,” said Mwaura.
At Mununga tea factory, the farmers are planning to boycott plucking their green tea leaves in protest to the directive by the regulator.
Nahason Ngari, a director at the factory said the 10,000 tea growers have protested the decision to pay for the suits with threats of going on strike next week. “The farmers’ protest is valid as Mununga will be required to part with Sh 30 million for the legal process, which was never initiated. At no time did the Kirinyaga farmers where I come from issue instructions to any lawyer to institute proceedings,” said Ngari.
In Murang’a, tea grower Meck Gitundu from Kanyenya ini tea factory in Kangema, says the former directors should not be entertained.
Gitundu said the growers are ready for the elections, but the issue of payments should be directed elsewhere. “We demand that Kanyenya ini factory board chaired by Alex Macharia Karuguru proceed with processing out teas. The issues on payment the lawyers should look for those who issued the instructions,” said Gitundu.