KTDA IS GIVEN 21 DAYS ULTIMATUM TO PAY TEA FARMERS THEIR BONUS OR ITS FACTORIES WILL BE PARALYSED IN THE SOUTH RIFT.

Business News By Leo Odera Omolo in Kericho Town.

The Kenya Tea Development Agency {KTDA} has been issued with a 21 days ultimatum to order its factories in Kericho, Bureti and Bomet to pay out tea bonuses for last year or else the farmers will stop supplying the factories with green tea leaves.

Issuing the threat, the chairman of the Rift Valley branch of the Small Scale Tea Owners Association, Mr.Joel Arap Chepkwony {Bwana Maendeleo} singled out five KTDA managed factories which have refused to release the tea bonuses as Tegat, Chemamul, Kapkatet, Kapset and Mogogosiek.

Speaking to this writer during an exclusive interview at the posh Tea Hotel in Kericho, Mr. Chepkwony said that tea farmers in the region were not happy with the latest development. The management of the five factories, he said, had told the farmers that their bonus money is being kept in safe custody for them.

The farmers recently attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM}, but were kept in the dark and not told when their bonus money would not be released.

The farmers need the money urgently during this time of the year, when their school going children will be home soon for the first term holidays, and to clear the fees arrears and balances. They also need the money to offset other overheads and family commitments.

Chepkwony said tea farmers need their money, and there is no valid reason why they should not be paid their dues, while farmers in other region have received theirs. “The farmers are capable of depositing their monies with the commercial banks or Tea SACCOS on their own, therefore the management of the factories have no morale authority of holding on the money. It must be paid out immediately”.

He was full of praise for the management of the Litein Tea Factories in Bureti, who have come out publicly and announced that they would release the bonus payment to the farmers.

“Tea bushes are very expensive crops to maintain. The farmers need regular weeding and maintenance, and farmers cannot do this when some people elsewhere have decided unilaterally to hold on to their money.”

He said for the KTDA managed factories to continue receiving their regular supplies and deliveries of green tea leaves from the farmers in the surrounding villages, the management of these factories must release the bonus payment immediately or else, the farmer will be asked to stop deliveries and this would paralyzed the operations of the factories.

Mr. Chepkwony appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture to intervene and pressurize the management of the five factories to release the farmer’s money immediately before the 21 days notice collapsed.

He said most small scale tea farmers in the region retain the services of laborers for the maintenance of the tea bushes, and the workers salaries are paid on monthly basis. The farmers need fertilizers, particularly during this time of long rains. All these overheads need cash money. But the farmers cannot afford it because the factories are sitting on their money for undisclosed reasons.

Ends

ldooderaomolo@yahoo.com