Coffee society members protest disposal of their land

Members of Kieguchia Farmers' Cooperative Society in Meru have petitioned the county assembly to investigate the mismanagement and corrupt sale of their land.

The land was sold to the Meru Central Coffee Cooperative Union for Sh18 million, an amount the protesting members describe as a throwaway price.

"The transaction was done by the management without a proper land valuation report, which should have been approved by the members of the society. The land sale agreement was not made available to the members," say the coffee farmers in a petition submitted by activist Salesio Thuranira.

According to the petition, members were not informed about how the proceeds of the land sale were spent.

However, Kieguchia chairman Francis Murithi said due process had been followed in the sale of the society's land.

"We are ready to face the county assembly with the relevant documents and information regarding the sale of the land. We got the approval of the members through an extraordinary general meeting to sell the land," Mr Murithi said.

He said the proceeds would be used to pay salary arrears to the society's workers.

The petitioners also want the county assembly to investigate the society's officials for being in office illegally.

"Some committee members have been neglecting their farms and buying kilos of coffee from other farmers to increase their production in order to remain eligible for election. This is against the constitution of the society," the petition reads.

The members want the assembly to summon the society's management, the Central Imenti Cooperatives officer and the auditors to shed light on the allegations.