Farmers say the post-independence KPCU, which holds billions of shillings of coffee farmers’ wealth in assets, has been a playground for corrupt individuals and groups.
Small-scale coffee farmers now want the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) to be transformed into an investment company.
The farmers said the post-independence KPCU, which holds billions of shillings of coffee farmers’ wealth in assets, has been a playground for corrupt individuals and groups.
Addressing a farmers’ meeting at the Jomo Kenyatta Agricultural Centre in Murang’a County, small-scale coffee farmers Central region representative Joseph Njeru said the government should also revisit the European Union’s 2011 proposal that recommended KPCU be split into three wings — milling, warehousing and estate investment.
He added that a cartel has been working in cahoots with some government officials to block revival of KPCU.
“The end result has been the government heeding the cartel’s wish that KPCU remains obsolete. It is this axis of the corrupt, both in the private and public coffee sector, that ensured KPCU remained under to a point of being placed under receivership over a Sh700 million liability,” he said.
The KPCU was placed under receivership in October 2009 over mounting debts.
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