@Alicewangechi
Intense campaigns have hit off in tea growing areas as factories directors who were elected under the tea reforms fight to retain their positions.
This follows the announcement by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission which will be overseeing the polls slated for end of June.
This has in turn sparked campaigns as the directors lobby for support from farmers even as they decry the short notice.
On Monday, IEBC announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Kenya Tea Development Agency to manage the elections that will be undertaken across seven tea farming regions in the country on June 28.
The commission will however be guided by an elections manual released by the Tea Board of Kenya with the polls expected to occur in 1,075 polling stations under 54 tea factories affiliated with KTDA.
But according to KTDA Holdings chairperson Enos Njeru, the agency has no funds allocated to facilitate elections and IEBC should consider shouldering the expense.
Njeru said the process could cost tea farmers about Sh350 million, a cost he said is too hefty.
Tea directors had appealed to IEBC to consider postponing elections until September after annual bonuses are announced.
The directors from Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Embu, Meru, Nyeri said having been elected through the reforms led by the national government, their main achievement is increased bonus payments being expected this year.
James Githinji, KTDA Board Member representing zone two in Murang'a, said farmers have been receiving increased returns with monthly payments rising from Sh16 per kilogram of green leaf to Sh25.
“Farmers are now able to participate in decision making in their tea factories with enhanced transparency,” Githinji, also Ngere tea factory chairperson, said.
He however noted that TBK’s elections manual grossly violates the articles of associations of tea factories that indicate that the company secretary should preside over elections.
Mununga tea factory director Nahason Ngari said tea factories plan to hold meetings next week to debate next year’s budgets and urged IEBC to make public its budget and the elections process to help them plan.
This, he said, is because factories were not ready for the elections to be held in June and had not factored any budget.
Gacharage tea factory director Simon Maina lauded his counterparts for effectively implementing reforms in their respective factories in the last three years.
He cited the management agreements signed by the 10 factories from Murang’a county with KTDA that will save farmers Sh2 billion annually for five years starting July this year, after reducing management fees paid to the agency from 2.5 per cent of total tea sales to 1.5 per cent.
“We have worked hard to increase farmers’ returns and have made it so that directors will in future be more answerable to farmers,” he added.
But the directors are facing a serious opposition from former directors who have claimed they were unfairly ousted in 2021 following an executive order by former president Uhuru Kenyatta, that allowed farmers to vote using the one-man-one-vote system provided for by the Tea Act 2020.
The directors then headed to court to challenge their ouster.
Candidates running for director positions will be required to have attained a D plain in their KCSE exam and produce green leaf supply slips for the last 12 months, a KRA pin certificate, EACC compliance form among others requirements.
After vetting by IEBC, names of shortlisted candidates will then be posted in their respective buying centres on June 14.
