Nandi halts talks with tea companies over expired leases

The Nandi County government has suspended talks with multinational tea companies and investors on renewing expired leases until after the August General Election, citing the need to first address historical injustices.

Tea companies owned by British investors have invested billions of shillings in the industry.

They want the land leases, which expire after 99 years, to be extended, but Governor Stephen Sang says this can only be discussed after the elections and investors must wait until next year for new directions to be issued.

The leases will not be extended without public participation, said Governor Sang, who is seeking a second term.

He also accused the multinationals of funding some of his competitors to oust him in August because he opposes extending the land leases.

He said the county government would have the final say on expired leases to ensure that landless residents are settled. Among other issues, he said, the new administration will need to consider historical land injustices before granting fresh leases.

He said Nandi residents’ forefathers were tortured, forcefully evicted and deprived of their property, and their descendants have not been compensated.

The governor said the companies had done little to support the local community such as improving infrastructure. He also faulted the tea companies for rejecting proposals to raise land rates to Sh10,000 per acre.

He explained that if the companies had agreed to pay new land rates, the county government could net over Sh1 billion shillings each year and boost local revenue.

The governor claimed that some land leases were extended in the months before the 2017 election under secret deals between the companies and the previous administration.

Kenya Tea Growers Association CEO Apollo Kiarei previously cited high operation costs and demanded that counties and the national government relax conditions in order to attract more new investors.

The companies have also put the national government under pressure over high electricity costs.

“The county government should ensure multinational tea companies are given good working conditions to operate in since they have employed thousands of locals,” he said in a past interview.

Many political leaders in the Rift Valley elected in 2013 and 2017 had promised voters that they would help return land with expired leases to local communities.

Former Nandi governor Dr Cleophas Lagat had assured tea companies in 2018 that the county would not evict them, noting that tea and sugar firms employed many people in the county.

His successor, Governor Sang, was elected on the promise of returning the tea companies’ land to the Nandi community.

“As long as I am the governor of Nandi, all squatters would be settled before any talks of renewal of expired leases,” he said.

He assured the landless that the county was working with the Ministry of Lands and the National Land Commission to settle all squatters.