No more tea for cartels in the sector

Only President Kenyatta’s signature now stands in the way of the much-awaited reforms in the tea sector after the Senate approved the Tea Bill yesterday.

The legislative journey, which started in June last year, culminated in overwhelming support by the senators, paving the way for the revival of the Tea Board of Kenya and adoption of new regulations to govern the multi-billion-shilling industry.

All the 33 senators present during the special sitting supported the Bill, arguing a passionate case for the tea farmer while sending a strong warning to the cartels that have for long been deeply entrenched in the sector — slowly but surely fleecing the farmer — that their time is up.

The session began with Embu Senator Njeru Ndwiga, who is also the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, moving the motion, taking his colleagues through the journey the team has travelled in a bid to bring reforms in the tea sector.

“We traversed this country as a committee from Kericho to Kisii to Murang’a and talked to tea farmers and heard their cries. It’s after this that we introduced the Bill,” Mr Ndwiga said.

Reforms

“It emerged in the meetings we held with farmers that KTDA doesn’t know what is happening on the ground,” Mr Ndwiga added.

He pointed out that this is the best time to institute reforms in the sector.

While a majority of senators did not agree with some of the amendments as proposed by the National Assembly, they said that for the sake of the farmers, they will pass them and address the anomalies through amendments and regulations.

If President Kenyatta signs the Bill into law, tea brokers, buyers and auction organisers will have to ensure that the proceeds from the sale of tea are paid within 14 days while factories will now pay 50 per cent of sales to farmers.

Opaque agreements

This will mean that Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), which has been holding a huge chunk of the proceeds for a year, will no longer have access to the tea billions since the money will now be controlled at the factory level.

The balance of the money will be paid at the end of the financial year. The Tea Research Foundation, which used to carry out research on the sector, will also come back in the proposed law.

Management agents will no longer enter into any agreement with a tea factory without the approval of the tea board.

KTDA has previously been accused of taking powers of the factory boards and running the farmers’ companies by entering into opaque agreements.

The law will also give the Cabinet Secretary powers to prescribe regulations for the registration of management agents — such as KTDA — and the appeal process.

The CS will also have powers to prescribe regulations for the tea auction. At the moment, the sole tea auction, East African Tea Trade Association, has taken Agriculture CS Peter Munya to court for prescribing regulations to govern the tea sector.

Earlier on, ODM leader Raila Odinga made a last-minute appeal to senators to pass the Bill in a bid to save farmers from cartels that have hindered growth of the industry.

“From Nyeri to Meru, Murang’a and Kiambu; from Kakamega to Vihiga, Nandi to Kericho and Kisii, tea farmers are suffering because of cartels that have taken over the industry to reap where they have not sowed,” he said.

Fixing the tea sector, Mr Odinga added, is a critical step to putting the country on a path of economic recovery through agriculture.

Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot, who sponsored the Bill, said that he can now confidently tell the people that he has done his work as a legislator.

‘They get so little...’

“It’s [now] upon the government to do its part,” Mr Cheruiyot said.

During the debate, Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua regretted that farmers work hard in their farms, yet they cannot afford tea once processed.

“It’s very disheartening that we live in a country where tea farmers spend hours in their farms picking tea, yet they get so little that they cannot afford tea on their table,” Mr Wambua said.

Minority Leader James Orengo said that the primary focus of the government should be to address the plight of farmers and not brokers.