NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 13 – The Ministry of Cooperatives has ordered the management and CEO of Barichu Coffee Cooperative Society in Mathira to step aside after failing to pay farmers millions of shillings.
The ministry has also requested the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the alleged embezzlement of funds, with the aim of prosecuting the officials.
Minister for Cooperatives Wycliffe Oparanya announced that the Nyeri County Director of Cooperatives will oversee the society’s management.
He also assured farmers that the government, through the new Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU), would provide Sh64 million to enable payment to the affected farmers.
Farmers have been protesting non-payment despite their board authorizing a payout of between Sh100 and Sh112 to farmers from four factories.
After visiting their Sacco accounts three months ago, they were shocked to find no deposits. This led to protests, with farmers even storming the chairman’s home, cutting down 200 coffee bushes, and burning part of his property.
Oparanya also called for the swift passing of the Cooperative Bill, which is still pending in the National Assembly, to introduce checks and balances to prevent mismanagement in coffee societies.
Nyeri Town MP Duncan Maina, who chairs the Parliamentary Coffee Association, echoed Oparanya’s sentiments, stressing that they will not allow the plunder of farmers’ money and calling for the prosecution of the officials involved.
