Meru fish farmers have accused the county government of evicting them from Kanyakine fish factory.
The 350 farmers from Meru Fish Farmers Cooperative Society said the county government through Meru County Investment and Development Cooperation (MCIDC) evicted them without notice.
Society chairman Joseph Ringera said they were shocked when they were asked on Wednesday last week to leave the firm premises the following day without notice.
He said the county government did not conduct any public participation or consult members before eviction and takeover of the factory.
But cooperatives executive Maingi Mugambi said the main idea of the takeover was to improve management of the society by partnering with MCIDC in the same way the county had done with the coffee sector.
“I don’t have details. They have not talked to me. But what happened is that the factory was not doing well and would benefit from better organisation and skills through MCIDC,” Maingi told the Star.
Ringera claimed the government took over the factory after they realised they had been promised a stake in the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) Sh1 billion kitty.
He said he called fisheries director Patrick Mbaabu and MCIDC who informed him the takeover was on orders from top county officials.
He said they were ordered to remove their belongings and hand over the keys without drama.
The factory was built by the state through the economic stimulus programme at a cost of Sh60 million and in 2014 was handed over to the county to help farmers in Meru and neighbouring counties.
Ringera said since 2016, they had sought funding from the county government to run the factory to no avail.
He said they won part of the countrywide grant after writing several proposals to financial institutions among them IFAD.
Ringera said Meru was considered for funding among 14 counties across the country.
"In 2017, IFAD came and started engaging the fish farmers in several meetings. Our members were once invited for a meeting at IFAD headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi, and eventually it was confirmed that Meru county had received funding among other 14 counties in the country," he said.
The farmers questioned why the county parastatal was giving attention to the fish factory after they received the money yet there were many other firms lying idle in the county and needed revival.
“IFAD has given Sh1 billion to fund aquaculture projects in the country for eight years. We suspect some individuals from the county government have ulterior motives to reallocate and take away the money,” Ringera said.
He appealed to Governor Kiraitu Murungi to intervene in the matter or farmers will suffer.
But Mbaabu denied forcibly taking over the firm, saying they wanted serious investors to run the factory.
He said the processor was not being utilised optimally by the cooperative society.
Edited by Henry Makori