Five people are nursing serious injuries at Tenwek hospital in Bomet County after they were involved in a fierce fight following a disagreement on tea farming business.
The mid-morning incident at Mwongori village in Borabu was a manifestation of rivalry in tea business with reports indicating that the rivals groups have been squabbling over the prizes of tea in the market.
According to a witness, fight broke out between Nyakerinya farmers group and Kerumbe tea group with the former accusing the latter on increasing the prize per kilo to Sh17 to woo more farmers from the agreed flat rate of Sh13 per kilo.
“They disagreed on the money paid to farmers per kilo. Nyakerinya group was unhappy that their rivals had “snatched” many farmers by increasing the pay. They started fighting and apparently both sides were armed with pangas and rungus,” said Abel Gwaro, who witnessed the incident.
However, the fight was contained by police officers from Matutu station with at least 10 people arrested in connection with the skirmishes as the injured were rushed to the Tenwek hospitals for emergency treatment.
“We contained the situation after getting a tip from locals. We have arrested ten people though I cannot verify which group they belong to. It’s unfortunate that business competition can make our people fight,” lamented police officer John Keter.
Kipkebe tea company, through its managing director Erick Mugo, termed the incident as ‘unfortunate’ and said investigations were ongoing before an action is taken to respect tea groups.