Agriculture CS Peter Munya has lashed out at the Keya Tea Development Agency for using the court to frustrate him as he does his job.
Munya accused KTDA of using the court system to prevent government from doing anything.
“KTDA has court cases everywhere and it is spending farmers’ money on expensive lawyers. This monster called KTDA has been growing and is investing farmer’s money in all sorts of schemes,” he said.
The CS spoke on Wednesday during a meeting with stakeholders in SACCO sub-sector at Safari Park hotel.
In July last year, the High Court issued orders stopping implementation of the gazetted tea reforms, after KTDA challenged the process.
Munya said many farmers want to be sure that they are able to pay school fees for their children and take care of the basics.
“Now when you make decisions to invest their money in all sorts of things and then those subsidiaries don’t make any money, you start saying the earnings have been going down. Yet it is you who has been engaging in faulty schemes,” he said.
He said this is what KTDA has been doing in the name of the small holder tea farmer, but that their time is up.
“Whether they go to court and pay expensive lawyers, we are telling them, time has come for the tea farmers in Kenya to benefit from their tea. And nothing is going to stop us. The only people who can stop us from doing this are the farmers,” he said.
Munya urged the media to be fair when reporting on tea factories that are going to court, as this gives an impression that they are framers taking the government to court.
“Farmers have not elected those people going to court. It is a few directors whose term ended. A new law has come where we are supposed to elect new directors to run the factories, but somebody who is in the office illegally is the one going to court and then the media is saying 51 factories are going to court,” he said.
KTDA has said in a statement that it is the right of every citizen aggrieved to seek redress in the courts of law.
"We cannot comment on matters that are in court. Kenya Tea Growers Association, East Africa Tea Trade Association, Tea Factory Companies, farmers, employees and even Agriculture Food Authority have enjoined themselves in the challenge of a section of the law. Lawyers are appointed by parties under the Advocates Act Chapetr 16 Lawa Kenya," said KTDA.
The CS emphasized that the reforms in the agriculture sector are aimed at ensuing there is good governance.
“There is a big gap in governance and most of the challenges we keep talking about and blaming the government is actually governance,” he said.
He concluded that time has come for the government to ensure that the tea sector goes back to the real owners, who are the farmers.