Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony has been asked to stop intimidating white settlers owning multinational tea estates in the area but instead engage them amicably.
The Kipsigis Council of Elders on Monday expressed concern at what it said was constant harassment of the owners of James Finlay, Unilever, George Williamson and Sotik Highlands tea estates.
Led by their chairman William Ketienya, the group while addressing the press in Bomet said the multinational tea estates employ more than 100,000 workers. They said nearly all of them come from the region and it would be wrong for the governor to try and evict the farmers.
“The county does not even have any plan at the moment on how to manage this land if they succeed in chasing these whites,” Ketienya said.
They said politicians should keep off the matter and deal with it soberly.
"If we are not careful, we might go the Zimbabwe way. These are investors and as politicians, we should not rush into giving such remarks as kicking them out of their ventures in our country will scare off other investors intending to come to our country,” Ketienya said.
He asked the governor to come out and explain to the residents how the Sh100 million committed for the legal process was spent.
He claimed Chepkwony misused the county assembly members by duping them into committing funds towards the move to kick out the white settlers.
“We are aware that Sh100 million has so far been spent and we now want him to come out and tell us what purpose it was meant for because there is no case that has been filed in London as claimed,” he said.
Adding, “We know a lot of funds have been spent on the process… the governor is telling us he has filed the case with the British government while we know very well he has not. He is simply playing games.”
He said if the two county governments were keen on having the British government compensate their people for being chased from their lands by the colonialists, they should involve all stakeholders through public participation instead of doing it in disregard of other key people from the community.
The four multinational tea companies own more than 200,000 hectares.
Lawyer Kimutai Bosek representing Kericho has already met Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso and the MCAs as he seeks to enjoin the county in the case.
Edited by R.Wamochie
