Chepkwony wants KTDA to refund tea farmers Sh87bn

A three-judge Bench will decide whether a tea agency should refund farmers up to Sh87 billion worth of charges it levied more than 400,000 farmers in what petitioners argue will be the true penalty for exploitation.

Justices Mumbi Ngugi, Martin Muya and Thripiza Cherere are hearing a case in which Kericho governor Paul Chepkwony wants the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) compelled to pay up the money he argues is the cumulative amount it has been charging farmers, but giving poor service in return.

On Monday, the judges declined to admit new evidence from KTDA, granting the governor partial victory in the battle. The judges said they could not allow an affidavit sworn by KTDA company secretary John Kennedy Omanga to be used in the case.

They ruled that accepting the affidavit dated May 16 could force the court to adjourn the hearing of the case to allow the other parties file responses to it and declined to admit the document as a court record in the case.

“It would not be in the interest of justice or the expeditious disposal of the matter if we admit the affidavit,” said Justice Mumbi, who is the presiding judge, on behalf of the Bench.

Formed in 1964 and privatised in 2001, the KTDA currently runs 68 tea factories focusing on small-scale tea farmers.

Prof Chepkwony sued the KTDA in December 2014, asking the court to order the agency to pay Sh87 billion as compensation to 400,000 farmers in Bomet and Kericho counties for what he argued were double charges for management services.

He accused the KTDA of mismanaging the sector leading to lower returns for smallholder tea farmers.

The governor charged that despite small-scale farmers accounting for up to 60 per cent of the total tea production, they have no control over institutions governing the tea sector.

The KTDA, which usually collects tea leaves, processes and sells on behalf of farmers, gives the first payment of Sh15 per kilo of green leaf and a second payment (bonus) which varies based on what they term as market dynamics.

For instance, in 2015, some factories in Kisii received as low as Sh8 as those in central Kenya make up to Sh60 bonus for each kilo.

The governor accuses KTDA of organising secret meetings with tea brokers to decide on commissions to be paid to farmers without involving farmers, now left poor.

“This is attributed to the high management fees charged by the KTDA, the many taxes imposed on smallholder farmers, the high cost of production, the long and inefficient supply chain and general mismanagement,” he argued in court.

On Monday, KTDA lawyer Martin Tebino had made an application to reopen an argument on whether or not Prof Chepkwony had the legal standing to file the case against the KTDA in his official capacity as Kericho governor.