Agenda on rotational election causing scrabbles in tea factories
The Mountain Journal
Tea meetings are facing challenges with allies of the former directors questioning the rush to amend the article of association on the rotational election and the increase in directors’ allowances. Suspending election to 2024 will hurt the sector,says the farmers
In various meetings, the directors managing the factories are defending the suspension of the rotational election, citing that they are working towards implementing the Tea Regulations 2020.
A section of the farmers have also questioned the increase in directors’ and factories’ expenses in the past year.
Last month, former directors led Francis Macharia and Prof Johnson Kang’ethe met at Kenol where they castigated the leadership of the factories alleging a mission to cripple the tea factories.
At Ngere Factory in Gatanga which was the first to conduct this year’s AGM, the farmers raised concerns demanding explanations on why the push to suspend the election where a third of the directors face election annually.
John Mwangi said it was against the law that their rights are denied through an agenda imposed by the management.
“The agenda was rushed in the meetings in all the tea factories under the management of KTDA, as the directors learnt some were not popular with the farmers,” said Mwangi.
Zonal two board member James Githinji said the directors were working towards restoring the mess they found in the sector after the farmers elected them in office.
“ There is a lot of interest in the tea sector with the former trying to incite the farmers as they are looking for avenues to get back to leadership,” said Githinji
Tea farmer, Joseph Gichimu said the rush to change the company article of association is illegal as the director pushed in the leadership by the former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya Karanja fear facing the farmers.
The farmers, he said, were suffering over mismanagement of the factories and increased cost of maintaining the directors.
“ The heavy producers of green leaf feel aggrieved in the manner the tea sector was being managed. We have been electing the directors annually on a rotational basis. Some are fearing they might lose due to non-performance,” said Gichimu, a farmer at Gacharage tea factory, Kigumo.
The farmers, he said in many of the factories are denied the chance to ask questions over the fear of introducing the debate on directors’ allowances and rotational election.
Lawyer Teddy Ochieng said the farmers in the meetings have all the rights to pass and reject the agenda item introduced by the board.
Ochieng said the move to extend the stay of the management in the office is illegal, and such an agenda requires 75 percent of the growers to endorse it.
“ Any discussion of the company law requires a number of farmers as stipulated by law who can pass it or shoot it down,” said the lawyer when sought for comments.
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