Tea farmers from Kiambere allied to Kebirigo Tea factory in Nyamira County have blamed the factory’s management of delaying the construction of a sister buying center that is meant to reduce congestion which is often experienced in the region during tea buying by the factory.
The angry farmers on Thursday narrated to the reporter the ordeal they were going throw and gave the factory management an ultimatum of a week to give details on the stalled construction of the second buying center from the region.
According to them, the factory had made deductions from the monthly salary for one and a half years and wondered why it had taken long to initiate the construction of a new buying center.
“The truth is that we are experiencing unnecessary congestion because our membership has increased from 245 in 2014 to 350 in 2015 and this is really causing chaos. Each farmer has been remitting a fee of Sh2 per kilo on a monthly basis and we wonder why they had taken long to initiate the construction. They have a week to give us a detailed explanation of we go on strike,” said Mr Victor Moindi who spoke on their behalf.
Factory’s Vice Chairperson Beatrice Moraa admitted of the delay when contacted on phone and said the factory was in the final stages of securing a contractor.
“It’s true that they have been remitting the funds but the factory has a procedure of doing things. We had to process a title deed which we have already done and now it’s about tendering. We released a memo calling for tender application and I think by the end of the month we will have secured a contractor. By February I am hopeful that the construction will start,” she said.