Big tea farms suffer major blow after NLC ruling on land, leases

It will not be business as usual in tea major plantations in Kenya following a landmark decision by the National Land Commission (NLC) that will cause major policy shifts.

In a decision published in the Kenya Gazette on Thursday, three county governments have been handed a major win in their push to re-survey the land on which the tea estates owned by multinational companies sit to establish the actual acreage.

The companies operating in the region, and which are affected by the NLC verdict, include Ekattera (formerly Unilever), James Finlays, George Williamson, Mau Tea, Sotik Tea Highlands and Sasini.

The NLC has directed that extra land found after the re-survey should revert to the county governments to hold it in trust on behalf of the local communities.

It is a win particularly for three governors from counties that host tea plantations – Dr Erick Mutai (Kericho), Professor Hillary Barchok (Bomet) and Mr Stephen Sang (Nandi) – who have been pushing for a resurvey of the land under tea estates, increase of land rates by up to 600 percent and revert to manual plucking of tea from mechanisation by a ratio of 40:60 in the firms.

The NLC verdict follows a petition by the affected county governments on behalf of native communities that include the Talai and Kipsigis clans.

In a major win, the commission has also directed that the renewal of leases to the lands hosting the plantations be withheld until an agreement is reached with the Kericho and Bomet county governments.

It further directed that the land leases which initially stood at 999 years should be realigned with the 2010 Constitution and adjusted to 99 years.

The NLC also gives leverage to the counties in their bid to raise the land rent and rates commensurate with the prevailing market rate to the benefit of the national and county governments.

“A resurvey should be done on the land being held by the tea estates to determine if there is any surplus land or residue to be held in trust for the community by the County Government for public purposes” NLC directed in its verdict.

It further directed that the counties should also sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the multinational to provide public utilities for the community.

In the Nandi case, the NLC further directed that the tea companies create a scholarship fund to educate children from the Talai community.

For the last seven years, the three counties have been pushing for the lease terms, which they said have for decades been shrouded in mystery and should be made public, the land rates and rent be revised upwards.

Governors Mutai and Sang have, for the last six months, been fighting to have the companies review their deployment of mechanisation in plucking of green leaves and revert to hand plucking.

Prof Barchok has, however, broken ranks with his colleagues saying mechanisation cannot be fought and the companies should be protected as they provide a source of livelihood for the people.

Mr Francis Atwoli, the secretary-general of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) has stated that more than 200,000 jobs had been lost directly and indirectly since the tea companies especially in the South Rift region embraced mechanisation.

Reacting to the verdict, Dr Mutai said: “Going forward, the county government will have a stake in the renewal of land leases, a departure from the past when the multinational companies colluded with a few Ministry of Land officers to renew the leases without any reference to the locals.”

“The tea companies must respect the National Land Commission's directions by allowing the landlord (counties) to resurvey the parcels of land they occupy and which belongs to the people,” added the Kericho County boss.

Kericho and Nandi counties late last year separately put in place a taskforce to address the issues in dispute between the county governments and multinational tea companies in the region.

In Kericho, the taskforce chaired by Captain (Retired) Richard Too recommended that the current land rates multinationals and privately owned tea companies are charged by county governments annually should be raised by a maximum of 625 percent.

It further recommended that mechanizations in the plucking of green leaves in the tea estates spread across Kericho, Nandi, Bomet and Nyamira counties should also be revised downwards from the current 100 to 60 percent.

“The land rates of Sh5,000 – 10,000 per acre (is recommended) to be charged and reviewed as and when the time comes subject to a maximum of 4 percent of the Unimproved Site Value (USV),” the Taskforce recommended.

The proposed rates reflect an increase of between 300 percent and 625 percent, should the counties embrace and legalise the terms.

The multinationals currently pay land rates of Sh1,600 per hectare — which was negotiated with the defunct Kipsigis County Council and Kericho Municipal Council while the legal land rates as the valuation roll in place of 1966 is Sh264 per acre.

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