Principal Secretary (PS) for Agriculture, Dr. Paul Rono, has called for an urgent financial audit of all Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) small-scale tea factories to stem runaway corruption.
Speaking while addressing tea farmers at Toror Tea Factory, he said the audits have been necessitated by the standoff between farmers and their boards of management over several issues, chief being low bonus payments.
“This is not a small matter and those in management should be ready to be audited and those got messing should be dealt with,” he said.
While ceding to the call for separation of the bank accounts of Tegat Factory and its satellite, Toror Factory, he called on the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) to close private factories that were not meeting the set quality standards saying they negatively affected KTDA factories’ reputation.
Dr. Rono noted that tea farmers will reap more profits if they strictly adhered to regulations and rules of tea farm management as espoused by the agency.
“Äs we complain over the deteriorating rate of bonus payments, let’s also stick to the required quality requirements and we will reap big,” he said.
The PS thanked the local leadership for their keen interest in the tea sector and urged them to prudently utilize the tea cess to improve the road network in tea-producing areas.
Dr. Rono assured farmers that they were fully working to free the tonnes of tea leaves stuck in godowns in Mombasa due to the impasse occasioned by the controversial Reserve Price which had been set by the government.
During the tense meeting, Ainamoi MP Langat supported the calls for the separation of the bank accounts of the two factories saying it will enhance transparency and accountability.
On the same, he advised the KTDA management to start generating payslips which indicate the farmers as supplying Toror Tea Factory only.
Some of the demands by the small scale tea farmers include the formation of a new Board of Directors for Toror.
TBK CEO Willy Mutai insisted on the production of quality tea leaves to fetch favourable prices during auction. He assured that the future of the tea crop was bright and called for elimination of corruption in the tea value chain.
He also urged that tea issues should not be politicized.
KTDA Managing Director Eng. Collins Bett said they will act on the recommendations forwarded by the farmers.
By Benedict Ngétich
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
>>> Click here to read more informed opinions on the country’s education landscape
