Kikuyu Member of Parliament Kimani Ichung’wah has lashed out at Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over the exploitation of tea and coffee farmers in the Mt Kenya Region.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Instead of working to iron out issues in tea and coffee, particularly pricing, the lawmaker argued that the deputy president has been a party to exploiting tea farmers.
President William Ruto tasked Gachagua to lead reforms in tea and coffee farming to ensure cartels that have long plagued farmers are removed for good.
The lawmaker, speaking to residents in Mathioya, Murang’a County, lamented that despite farmers putting in all the work, there are a class of politicians who are conspiring to fleece them of their harvest.
He pointed out that the sale of tea leaves at the Mombasa Auction has stalled because Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has pushed for tea leaves to be sold through his brokerage company.
“I will fight state capture by those who are in power today. Those who want to impoverish the people of Mt Kenya by demanding Ksh3 per Kilogram of coffee sold from our region,” he warned.
He noted that by demanding that all the tea from the Central region be sold through some politician’s brokerage companies, farmers do not receive good prices for their tea and coffee since they are controlled to benefit certain cartels.
Ichung’wah claimed that the cartels behind the brokerage houses enrich themselves at the expense of the people.
“We will not allow anyone to participate in politics with our votes. Our votes are for seeking a government that will work for us,” he stated.
“Then you tell us to unite so that you may auction our votes for your own benefit.” The MP, who is the leader of the majority the National Assembly, reminded the cartels that when he was in the Uhuru Administration, he single-handedly fought the state capture of our economy.
“I did not fight it because I did not like those who were in Government then, I fought state capture because it is bad for our economy.”
He warned that he will not sit and allow those who are taking advantage of farmers continue to impoverish tea and coffee farmers….CLICK HERE FOR MORE ARTICLE>>>
