The Director of public communications in Meru County Alhaji Mwendia has said that CS Munya has no diplomatic language. He said Munya was the first person to cause problems in Miraa farming, and now he is causing problems in the tea sector.
Speaking at a funeral ceremony in Meru County, Alhaji said he was curious how Munya would solve problems in the tea sector, given that he was unable to solve the problems facing the Miraa, cashew nut, sugarcane, sisal and pyrethrum farmers.
“He believes that the challenges only exist in the tea and dairy sectors. He believes he can solve the issues confronting those two sectors while failing to address the issues confronting Miraa farming, which he cultivates,” said Alhaji.
According to Alhaji, Munya should stop playing politics for the remainder of his term and be aware that proceeds from Miraa farming are being used to educate a child in Igembe.
CS Munya has been accused by several Meru County MCAs of involving politics in the tea sector. MCAs accused Munya of paying farmers low bonuses. The director of the Imenti Tea Factory, Mr. Muriithi, came out in support of CS Munya.
“I would like to request that people refrain from involving politics in the tea sector. Reforms are progressing as expected, and many people believe that reforms will not take place. We took office while the reforms were still in progress, and the farmers will soon notice the difference,” said Muriithi.
“The current bonus is not ours because we have only been in office for three months. When we took office, we were met with a slew of challenges. Farmers at the Imenti tea factory expected a bonus payout of Ksh 25. When I took office, I was greeted with a slew of surprises, including a Ksh22M budget for greater Meru,” he said
“We were supposed to pay Sh27 million to the KTDA for Imenti tea factory hydro. We cut a lot of costs and were able to increase the bonus to Sh27. People should not be misled because we have seen a change in the time we have been in office. People should stop involving politics in tea farming and deceiving people by providing inaccurate information,” he said.
A KTDA official implored the people of Meru County not to listen to false prophets. He said KTDA directors who were elected have only been in office for three months, including the national chairman and acting KTDA CEO.
He said that the officials should be given a chance so that the tea farmer can move forward.
“Reforms are a massive undertaking with numerous complications. One of the issues that are supposed to be resolved as part of the ongoing tea sector reforms is bonus payouts. Transportation of the crop from the farm to the factory is one of the other reforms,” he said.
“There’s also a stabilization fund that was set up to ensure that the tea crop should not be lowered below a certain level. The commission that were being offered to those who were selling the tea drop was dropped. The commission that was also been charged by the KTD was lowered,” he said.
“So there are many reforms that are taking place and the farmer will be able to see them after the financial year 2021/2022 ends in June next year. There will be a huge improvement in the tea sector in 2022,” he said.
“We expected a bonus payout of Sh100, but the bonus payout in most regions is Sh22. My request to the national government is to provide relief to tea farmers because, as we speak, the majority of tea farmers are walking on the road with their hands raised not because they are in prayer but because they are confused,” he said.
According to the KTDA official, County officials should not attend funerals and spread false information. He said that the county officials should be doing what they were assigned to do.
He said that the county government has a lot of work to do, and these people should be doing it.
“The agriculture ministry is devolved at the national level. Meru County government should provide fertilizers to residents of Meru County, and my message to members of the Meru County assembly speaking on radio interviews is that they should focus on how to properly close the Meru County assembly’s business,” a KTDA official said.
“They will soon be using the low bonus payouts to campaign in the villages, but I warn them to brace themselves for embarrassment in June next year, when the bonus payouts will have increased. The county government plays a role in the tea industry by lowering production costs,” he said.
“Tea, coffee, and maize farming should have lower production costs. The county government should provide farmers with seedlings and ensure that various types of farming are successful. County officials should be doing the job that the constitution has assigned to them,” he said.
Tea farmers said that politics should be kept out of tea farming. According to Bundi, a tea farmer, there has been an improvement from the previous time, and his request to this county official who is spreading false information is that Munya is actively involved in developing new strategies and visiting the Mashinani so that he can fix the tea sector.
“There are growing concerns about the tea sector, with some people going on record saying that tea farming is being destroyed. This is propaganda because I know tea farmers who are pleased with the progress made despite their dissatisfaction with the bonus paid,” Bundi said.
The KTDA official said that it be could be argued that because the bonus payout for tea farming was expected to be Sh100, it was also expected that the coffee would be Sh100 as well. He said Munya was estimating when he said that the bonus payout would be Sh100 for the tea crop.
“As the reforms continue, we can anticipate that payouts will soon reach Sh100. Coffee crop bonuses began at Sh22 and are now at Sh70. When all of the loopholes are identified and closed, we will be able to achieve Sh100 for the tea crop,” he said.
A farmer said that he was surprised when he saw a few Meru County MCAs from the drylands attending radio interviews and others on TV claiming that the tea crop was being destroyed.
He said he had high hopes and was confident that tea farming would take him far. He said that he planned on replacing trees on his land with tea crops now that he discovered that tea farming was profitable.
