Former directors of Embu tea factories told to keep off

Former Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) directors were yesterday told to keep off the affairs of the tea factories in Embu County.

The incumbents accused their predecessors of attempting to forcibly take over the factories in total disregard of the law.

They stated that they will resist any attempts by the former directors to meddle in the operations of the factories.

Mungania Tea Factory chairman Mwenje Njeru and his Rukuriri Tea Factory counterpart Joseph Rwanjau dismissed the former directors as intruders.

Mr Njeru revealed that he found the former directors seated in the factory’s boardroom recently but they left when he threatened to have them ejected.

“We’re the bona fide directors of Mungania tea factory; the former directors have no legal document to show that they should be in the factory,” Mr Njeru said.

He added that they were elected under the new rules and regulations put in place by the government to improve the welfare of farmers.

“We’re law-abiding leaders and we shall protect the interests of the farmers. We shall not allow people masquerading as leaders to get into the factory,” he said.

Since they took leadership under the new rules, Mr Njeru said, there has been tremendous improvement in terms of performance. 

Mr Rwanjau said that it took the intervention of the police to prevent the former directors from interfering with his factory’s operations.

“We reported the matter to the police and the intruders were kicked out,” he said, and called on President William Ruto to intervene and ensure the will of the farmers, who elected the current factory leaders, is respected.

“The transformation we’re witnessing in the sector is immense and farmers are happy. Former directors failed to achieve anything and that’s why they were kicked out,” Mr Rwanjau said.

He assured farmers that the factory leadership was intact and that they should not panic.