KTDA chairman Chege Kirundi (left) with CS Agriculture Mutahi Kagwe (Centre) and KTDA CEO Wilson Muthaura (proper). PHOTO/UGC.
The battle for the soul of the Kenya Tea Improvement Company (KTDA) will not be merely a turf warfare between a brand new board and a bitter previous guard; it’s a litmus check for Kenya’s dedication to public accountability, rural empowerment, and sustainable improvement. At stake is the way forward for over 680,000 smallholder farmers and the financial integrity of considered one of Kenya’s most significant export industries.
What we’re witnessing will not be opposition rooted in precept, however a determined and harmful counterattack by entrenched cartels that when turned KTDA into a private money cow. Their weapons of selection? Smear campaigns, disinformation, manipulation, and intimidation; the acquainted playbook of those that thrive in opacity and panic when the lights are turned on.
Allow us to be clear: these cartels had been dislodged, not defeated. And now, by each on-line sabotage and orchestrated public stunts, they’re trying to reclaim management; to not serve farmers, however to re-establish the privilege, corruption, and unaccountability that outlined their reign.
For years, KTDA was extra curse than blessing to the very farmers it was presupposed to uplift. Whereas farmers toiled within the fields, their returns dwindled, their voices had been silenced, and their factories sank into debt. In the meantime, a shadowy cabal inside KTDA grew fats, shielded by bureaucratic complexity and political connections.
A damning audit by a multi-agency workforce chaired by former Lawyer Basic Paul Kihara uncovered the rot. It revealed irresponsible borrowing, unregistered money owed, questionable land purchases, and thousands and thousands in authorized charges paid with out correct oversight. High rating officers at KTDA then featured prominently within the report.
The extent of mismanagement was staggering. Cumulative loans within the billions. Misused mounted deposits. Failure to reveal monetary obligations. Flagrant violations of the Firms Act. Losses that pressured factories like Kagwe Tea Manufacturing unit into emergency borrowing simply to remain afloat. This was not mere incompetence; it was deliberate sabotage of farmer welfare.
But, in a transfer hardly ever seen in Kenya’s company governance historical past, these people had been eliminated in 2021, following Government Order No. 3 of 2021. The message was clear: enterprise as traditional would not be tolerated.
Beneath the management of chairman Chege Kirundi, KTDA has launched into what might be essentially the most formidable reform agenda in its historical past. And predictably, it has made enemies.
The brand new board is doing what the earlier regimes feared most: returning the company to its rightful house owners; the farmers. Determination-making is being decentralised. Monetary transparency instruments are being rolled out. Farmers are being actively concerned in governance. The “Farmers First” agenda is not rhetoric; it’s being operationalised.
Reforms are additionally future-facing. KTDA is investing in climate-smart agriculture, renewable power, carbon credit score markets, and a shift from bulk exports to value-added specialty teas. These initiatives should not simply economically sound; they’re morally crucial. Kenya’s tea farmers deserve greater than subsistence; they deserve dignity, prosperity, and world competitiveness. And therein lies the hazard for the cartels.
Unable to regain energy by reliable means, the cartels have resorted to determined antics. Nameless social media campaigns, employed influencers, false allegations, and even a faux press convention; the place media homes had been invited to a Nairobi lodge solely to search out an empty room; have been deployed to undermine the reforms.
KTDA chairman Chege Kirundi. PHOTO/FILE.
This isn’t opposition rooted in coverage debate. It’s sabotage. It’s what occurs when legally dislodged elites discover themselves with out entry to the trough.
Allow us to not be naïve. The smear marketing campaign will not be an remoted effort; it’s strategic, well-funded, and coordinated. It’s supposed to sow confusion, divide stakeholders, and erode public confidence within the present board. However extra importantly, it’s a check of nationwide resolve.
This isn’t nearly KTDA. It’s about what sort of nation Kenya desires to be.
Will we be a nation the place establishments are reformed and guarded, or one the place corrupt pursuits can claw again energy by subterfuge and noise? Will we enable reformist management to be sabotaged by digital mercenaries and pretend press occasions? Or will we, for as soon as, stand with those that select to steer with transparency and integrity?
Tea is not only a crop. It’s the financial lifeline of rural Kenya. It pays college charges, helps households, and earns the nation billions in international alternate. Reforming KTDA will not be a bureaucratic train; it’s a nationwide ethical obligation.
To cease this regression, concrete actions are needed, not simply from KTDA management, however from all the governance ecosystem.
The Kihara-led audit beneficial particular people for prosecution. The Workplace of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Fee should act. No reform can thrive if impunity prevails.
The federal government should be certain that board members and manufacturing unit officers implementing reforms are shielded from bodily, authorized, and digital harassment. Reform can’t be a suicide mission. The Tea Act 2020 have to be enforced to the letter. Debentures have to be registered. Proceeds have to be remitted to factories promptly. Borrowing limits have to be revered.
Extra funding should go into farmer training and engagement. An knowledgeable farmer is a resilient farmer, proof against propaganda and empowered to carry management accountable. Media homes should do higher. Cease attending ghost pressers. Cease amplifying baseless claims. Examine, confirm, and report responsibly. This isn’t a circus; it’s the way forward for lots of of hundreds of households.
Silence is complicity. Civil society should publicly help the reforms, demand accountability, and name out the return of corruption cloaked within the guise of “opposition”. This isn’t a time for neutrality. Each Kenyan; particularly those that care about justice, integrity, and the dignity of rural livelihoods, should make a selection.
Will we stand with those that stole, mismanaged, and muzzled farmers for many years? Or can we help a management dedicated to transparency, farmer empowerment, and local weather resilience? The reply must be apparent. Let the cartels scream. Let the faux hashtags pattern and fade. Let the reform agenda march on. For the farmers. For the economic system. For Kenya.
