Farmers have blocked an attempt by former KTDA directors to take back the posts they were ousted from.
The five directors representing Chebut and Kaptumo Tea Factories in Nandi went to the Kapsabet-based processing plant demanding to take back their posts from the factory unit manager.
They were led by John Tega who until his ouster as the chairman was claiming that a high court had reinstated them to their previous posts.
They had been replaced in 2021 when the Tea Reforms Act was passed by Parliament which prompted fresh elections across the factories.
The old directors had arrived at the Chebut Tea factory aboard one vehicle and waved documents to the factory unit manager Peter Munialo, claiming to be a high court order reinstating them.
However, their arrival didn’t last long as farmers who were delivering their fresh green leaves, got wind of the move and raised alarm resulting in the unprecedented arrival of other farmers.
Munialo asked them to serve the head office and not him as he would only act on instruction from the KTDA headquarters.
The former team left promising to return.
The new board led by the vice chairman Kennedy Tanui, Nelson Bitok, Robert Kemboi, Alfred Mwei and Noah Choge arrived at the factory saying they were the bona fide farmers' representatives.
Tanui, the directors' spokesperson said the planned takeover by the ousted former directors was illegal, dismissing the alleged order as fake as the case in court had not been heard and determined.
“We are the legal Chebut/Kaptumo KTDA factories directors as per the 2021 Tea Act enacted and passed by parliament,” Tanui said.
The two Nandi KTDA-based factories received one of the highest payments ever to their 15,000 farmers supplying green leaves to them.
Farmers earned Sh40 per kg in the 2021/2022 trading period up from Sh32 in 2020/2021.
Tanui said the first payment had been adjusted from Sh17 to Sh20 per kg while the second payment commonly referred to as bonus increased to Sh20.
“Small-scale farmers are very happy this year hence we don’t want further interference from the former board,” Bitok said.
“Monthly payments are paid to farmers latest 5th of each month, which is far much better than previous when it took up to two years.”
They asked the government not to turn back on the reforms made by his predecessor's administration.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris