Politicisation of the tea reforms by CS Peter Munya

Muranga, 13th April 2022: Our attention has been drawn by unfortunate remarks made by Hon Peter
Munya, Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Co-operatives, regarding the
contribution of the Kenya Tea & Coffee Lobby Group to the total overhaul of the tea sector.

This overhaul that we have been right at the center of has seen farmers enjoy better returns, remove decade-old theft machinery, and entrenchment of corporate governance in the management of the tea sector in Kenya. The Kenya Tea & Coffee Sector Lobby wishes to remind Cabinet secretary Peter Munya of the following;
• Tea farmers approached Irungu Nyakera, chairman, of Kenya Tea & Coffee Lobby Group
in 2018 to fight and agitate for their rights. At that time, nobody else was keen to listen to farmer
issues, that were even exposed in the forensic audit report on the management of the tea sector
• In 2018/19 we met with different stakeholders to better understand issues faced by tea
farmers for us to push for reforms. We also met with the then Cabinet Secretary, Agriculture
Mwangi Kiunjuri.
• in 2019, the lobby wrote to the Directorate Of Criminal Investigations and Office of
Director Of Public prosecutions to charge KTDA management with fraud and misuse of public
funds
• In 2019, the lobby went to court to stop the elections of KTDA rotating directors and was
unsuccessful. We then went ahead to file another petition to stop the confirmation of any
directors elected and we were successful. This was a historical the first successful case against
KTDA.

•the lobby reached out to the Office of the President and on 14th January 2020, the President read out our tea reform proposals at state house Mombasa and said the government is committed to making these reforms a reality. On this same day, the President appointed Minister Munya as minister for agriculture with a mandate to reform the tea sector.

•Kenya Tea Sector Lobby organized 400 members who are tea farmers to assemble at Uhuru Park at 9:00 Am on Thursday, December 17, 2020, for a peaceful march to attend a court case filed by KTDA against the reforms instituted by the government at the Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi. The farmers later marched to the Senate to press for the passing of the Tea Bill.

•22ND December 2020, the successful passage of THE TEA BILL by the Senate injected fresh hope into Tea Farmers through radical policy and structural reforms to the tea sector, assuring farmers of better returns through the purging of cartels and middlemen, overhauling old and tired leadership at KTDA and factories, and forcing KTDA to focus on marketing and value addition.

•30th April 2021, Minister Peter Munya appointed our chairman Irungu Nyakera to chair the National Technical Working Committee on the Design, Development, and Implementation of the Tea Industry Price Stabilization Framework. 12th March 2021, The president through Executive Order number 3 of 2021, in the revitalization of the tea sub-sector

•September 22nd, 2021, the Cabinet Secretary quoted the proposals by the Irungu Nyakera Led committee during the induction of KTDA factory directors in Mombasa. These proposals included the Tea Price and Income Stabilization Fund being run by the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) with a board comprising of representatives of the PSs for Agriculture, Trade, and National Treasury, the Chief Executive of TBK, a company secretary, and other co-opted members.

•7th March 2022, The Cabinet Secretary officially received the final report from the National Technical Working Committee on the Design, Development, and Implementation of the Tea Industry Price Stabilization Framework.

The lobby applauds the good work done by CS Munya, to the benefit of tea farmers. However,
the minister has started eroding these sacred gains by politicizing tea reforms and fighting our
Irungu Nyakera during his visits to Muranga County.

All through this journey, Irungu Nyakera, and Minister Munya have unanimously agreed that farmers’
issues should never be politicized and we wonder why the minister is forgetting this solemn oath to
farmers. Despite being in different political coalitions, issues of farmers’ should give all Kenyans an
agreeable middle ground.

With Irungu Nyakera being a principal member of the Kenya Kwanza coalition, applauds the William Ruto to Irunga Nyakera, on the sidelines of the coalition signing ceremony, that his government will prioritize the completion of the ongoing tea reforms. The contribution of Irungu Nyakera to the Tea sector reforms is significant and indelible.