Parliament embarks on tea pricing/ bonus probe 

The Mountain Journal

editor@themountainjournal.co.ke

An inquiry team on tea pricing instituted following the acrimony on disparities on bonus payment will visit key stakeholders between east and west of the rift starting today in the west of the rift.

The parliamentary inquiry committee chaired by Tigania West MP Dr John Mutunga, is scheduled to visit seven factories for engaging key stakeholders over disparities in farmers bonuses between the regions in the east and west of the rift.

 The acrimony started after some of the factories in the west of the rift received a bonus payment of Sh 10 per kg of green leaf delivered  for processing between July 1, 2024 and June 30, this year.

In the east of the rift, the MPs led by Kigumo MP Joseph Munyoro have said they are against the introduction of the standardisation of tea bonus.

 The inquiry team will visit Gacharage tea factory on Wednesday.

 In the schedule  seen by The Standard, the Mutunga committee will make the engagement between November 18, and November 26 while the report is expected to  be tabled in parliament on December 2.

Among the factories to be visited  for the inquiry include the Rukuriri factory in Embu that paid the highest bonus this year of  Sh57.50 per kgs. 

Other factories in the west of the rift are Motigo, Tegat, Sanganyi, while in the east of the rift are Michimikuru(Meru), Gacharage( Murang’a) and Ndarugu( Kiambu).

Facilities that will be visited are quality analysis and tea testing laboratory, Tea Research Institute, KTDA Warehousing among others.

The inquiry will focus on four key objectives, to identify how tea pricing is determined, to investigate regional price disparities, to assess operational costs across factories, and to pinpoint institutional inefficiencies affecting farmers’ earnings.

The committee will analyse the entire tea value chain, from pre-production to export,  reviewing the roles of the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) and the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA).

“The probe aims to establish the factors contributing to the reduced payments and will involve officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Tea Board of Kenya, KTDA,  EATTA, Tea brokers, and marketers,” says Mutunga, also the chairman  of the agriculture and livestock committee.

 The exercise follows highly charged meetings between the KTDA directors from the regions who blamed each other in their separate meetings in Kisumu and Kenol towns two weeks ago.

Kigumo MP said the agriculture committee has members from both sides among them Gatundu South MP Gabriel Kagombe also a KTDA director and a tea farmer in Kiambu.

“The report will be debated in parliament to ensure there is fairness in pricing of tea and ensure there is production of quality tea,” said Munyoro.

KTDA Board Member for  Embu, Mr Enos Njeru said the inquiry team will be taken through systems on quality tea, reduced production cost among others that leads  to better bonus payment to understand how the value chain works.

 “Production of quality teas is the ultimate goal towards achieving the best payment thus satisfying the market,” said Njeru.

Ndima tea factory John Mithamo Wasusan said it was absurd that the Principal Secretary Dr Kiprono Rono was issuing threats on the directors, on the alleged misappropriation of farmers resources.

“ The directors are ready for the factory audit as in the east the stakeholders concentrate in production of the quality tea  to achieve better prices,” said Mithamo, also zone five board member.