Court bars tea farmers from holding special general meetings

The High Court has stopped tea farmers from holding special general meetings for Kimunye, Ndima, Thumaita and Mununga tea factories in Kirinyaga county.

But shareholders at Thumaita and Kimunye tea factories had concluded their meetings and confirmed the directors who were elected during the June 29, election by the time the order by Kerugoya High Court Judge Joe Omido was obtained on Wednesday afternoon.

In the petition dated July 15, ten tea farmers represented by lawyer Ndegwa Njiru lodged a suit against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Kenya Tea Development Agency and Tea Board of Kenya seeking to stop the special general meeting saying they were marred with irregularities.

The petitioners argued that the election conducted by IEBC on June 29 was illegal as the commission was not fully constituted.

“That the 24 interested parties are on the verge of being sworn into office notwithstanding the fact that they were elected in a fraudulent process,” read the petition in part.

The directors from the tea factories in Kirinyaga county are listed as interested parties in the petition which the court ordered to be heard on  July 24.

In Murang’a County, the approval of two directors at Kiru tea factory was put on hold after a special general meeting failed to endorse them.

Approval of directors elect Martin Ngatia from the Kiambuthia zone and Eston Gakungu from Kairo zone failed to proceed after a section of farmers engaged in a shouting match disrupting the meeting.

It is alleged that farmers who escorted the two in the meeting chaired by Chege Kirundi disrupted the forum.

“They will be confirmed in the factory Annual General Meeting slated for October where the laid down procedures must be followed,” said Kirundi.