Embu,
Monday, March 18, 2023
KNA by Samuel Waititu
Ousted Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) Factory Directors who moved to court to challenge their removal have been asked to withdraw the case or else they will not be allowed to vie in the upcoming elections later this year.
KTDA National Chair Enos Njeru said they will only be allowed to run for factories Board of Directors seats if and when they will agree to withdraw the cases.
Speaking at a press briefing in Embu on Sunday, Njeru said it was immoral for them to desire to represent the same farmers they have taken to court with litigations eating into millions of farmers’ earnings.
” Enough is enough, we cannot allow a few individuals who are power hungry to continue holding farmers at ransom and blocking reforms instituted by the government to revamp the sector,” he said.
The ex-directors were ousted in 2021 through a special Annual General Meeting (AGM) over allegations of mismanaging the multi-billion sector following reforms instituted by the government to revamp the industry.
Some of the proposed reforms include enhancing governance in the sector, setting up minimum reserve price at the auction and price stabilisation framework as well as reducing operation costs.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in February this year said the cases were an impediment to implementation of the reforms and realisation of their benefits to farmers and called for their withdraw.
Meanwhile, Njeru reported that tea production was on the rise since late last year attributing to favourable weather conditions. “The good performance of short rains that extended up to around February and provision of subsidised fertiliser has led to an increase in green leaf production that is also of good quality,” he said.
He added that prices had also improved tremendously this year resulting to an increase in farmers’ earnings from Sh21 per kilo of Greenleaf paid last year to Sh 25 from January.
To shore up farmers’ earnings, Njeru said they had ventured into value addition including installation of orthodox tea production lines that fetches better prices in the global market than the traditional black CTC teas.
Most of their factories, he said, had also started production of flavoured teas to increase local consumption of their tea and incomes.
Courtesy; KNA
