Drama engulfed Nyakongo village in Nyamira County for the better part of Wednesday after disgruntled farmers locked the area tea buying centre, protesting alleged poor leadership by the management committee and corruption allegations.
Speaking to HiviSasa.com after the incident, they were unanimous that the centre remains closed till the row between them and the embattled management is amicably solved by officials from Nyansiongo tea buying centre.
They said that the management had imposed Sh40 monthly on farmers for security purposes but a section of farmers are not convinced with the function alleging that they had lost their tea to anonymous people despite the presence those deployed as security agents.
“This is a bogus committee and the buying centre has to remain closed till officials from Nyansiongo come to solve it. They (management) have been collaborating with the buying clerk to defraud us by manipulating the weighing scale,” said Francis Ombui.
“Security is another issue that we want addressed. We have been paying Sh40 but still lose our commodity to unscrupulous people at night when the tea isn’t picked by the company despite the presence of security,” added Josephine Moraa.
However, embattled chairman Obed Nyaoga dismissed the claims and accused one of his competitors of inciting farmers against the elected committee.
“Some people who lost elections through a democratic office are totally behind this. This is not the better way of handling issues and the current committee will tackle them head-on,” said Nyaoga.