State authenticating debts owed to coffee cooperatives – Kindiki

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has said that the government is in the process of authenticating debts owed to coffee cooperative societies.

Speaking during a meeting with legislators from coffee-producing regions on Thursday, Kindiki said that while actualisation of the waiver approved by the Cabinet has begun, they are still authenticating the debt to make sure people who deserve benefit.

He admitted that the process even though it is on needs to be hastened so that the money can benefit the farmers and the coffee sector.

The Deputy President said the government understands how such debt waivers have revived other sectors in the country that were dying.

“We are actualising the debt waiver approved by the cabinet but authenticating that debt so that it benefits the target people and that process needs to be speeded up so that we can get debts from that sector. We've seen in other sectors debt waiver has gone a long way in bringing back the sector into production. Sugarcane farming is one example,” Kindiki said.

During the meeting held at his Karen office, Kindiki hosted 78 MPs from coffee-growing regions of Rift Valley, Central, Eastern, Western and Nyanza.

He went on to say that the government is also keen on reforming the coffee sector from infrastructure to its governance.

The Deputy President said this is at the centre of the success of the sector and the Kenya Kwanza administration.

He cited the removal of conflict of interest, cartels and other people who have frustrated farmers over the years as another area of focus for streamlining.

“We are looking at reforms of the new KPCU including its infrastructure… Governance of Coffee Cooperatives is at the centre of our success story. The issue of removal of conflict of interest, eradicating cartels and the people of who have made sure the farmer is suffering over the decades is at the centre of our success story.

“I want to assure you that with your political support, the support of farmers, members of the public, we are going to go out of our way to remove the remaining bottlenecks around conflict of interest but also around improving governance.”

Kindiki said once the new cooperative law comes into effect, the sector will have good governance.

“We are going to have better governance in factories if we remove the indebtedness in that sector, improve the equipment for processing, do our marketing, increase production, we are looking at an area that will double or even triple in growth by 2027.”