Chelal Tea Factory farmers want to be delinked from Litein Tea factory

Kericho,

Tuesday, December 2023

KNA by Dominic Cheres

The 58th annual general meeting (AGM) of the Shareholders of Litein Tea Factory ON Tuesday turned chaotic and ended prematurely after tea farmers affiliated with Chelal tea factory demanded to delink themselves from Litein factory.

The enraged tea farmers demanded that they run and operate the production, processing, and management of their tea as tea farmers of Chelal tea factory from the control of the mother factory. 

The AGM which was held at Chelal tea factory in Bureti, Kericho County which is a satellite of Litein tea factory ended during the question time when tea farmers mostly from the Roret area questioned their shareholding in the Litein which they argued is not clear.

The tea farmers said the meeting would only proceed when their demand to delink themselves from the Litein factory was given the go-ahead. 

The AGM was being chaired by Litein tea factory KTDA board chairman Mr Theophilus Mibei. 

A former civic leader from Roret and a tea farmer Mr Charles Ngetich while speaking at the meeting said they as farmers of Chelal tea factory wanted to run their unit separately arguing that their tea was of superior quality than that from Chelal.

According to the board chairman Mr Theophilus Mibei, the two factories had been incorporated separately but jointly owned by the same shareholders and it has yielded burning issues amongst the farmers supplying tea produce to the two factories. 

He added that the two factories were being run by one board of management. 

Mr Mibei speaking to the press said tea shareholders who are supplying the Litein factory do not want to separate from the Chelal tea factory whereas tea factory shareholders affiliated with Chelal and are supplying tea to the factory unit want to be delinked from Litein and operate separately. 

Chelal Tea Factory Orthodox processing unit will be 50 percent complete by the end of the financial year and ready for commissioning by 2023/ 2024.

This is a strategy to meet rising demands for orthodox teas which fetches better prices in the world market compared to CTC teas. 

 The board chairman said the meeting was adjourned until the board would sit and suggest another date for the AGM to conclude the business of the day.

Earlier on the tea farmers at the AGM said the elections of factory directors would be held every three years and each director would serve a maximum of two terms. 

The farmers urged the KTDA to increase the pay for their monthly tea produce from Sh21 per Kilo to Sh 30 per kilogram.

Chelal Tea Factory Co. Ltd is an investment of the Litein tea factory whose initial aim was to help process tea from farmers from the lower region of Roret due to the large supply of huge volumes of tea produced.

 The Chelal satellite factory has been fully supported by Litein despite being a separate legal entity. 

“The financial statements of the satellite have been combined with those of Litein Litein Tea Factory Co. Limited, based on common Directorship, financial and operational control,” Mr Mibei remarked.

The first Kericho women representative Ms. Hellen Chepkwony said though they are joined together with the Litein factory, Chelal tea produces higher quality and wants to be separated from Litein. 

Courtesy; KNA