KTDA chairman Peter Kanyago ousted as Director of Chinga factories in tea sector polls

Long-serving Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) Chairman Peter Kanyago was on Saturday ousted as Director of Chinga factories in the ongoing controversial tea sector polls.

Farmers flocked the Gichiche stadium in Nyeri County to elect new officials using the ‘one-man-one-vote’ formula that has perceivably brought power back to them as opposed to when elections of farmers’ representatives were determined by the number of tea bushes one had.

According to farmers that spoke to Citizen Digital, the elections reflected their will and they are now confident of reforms in the sector.

The farmers’ lawyer Patrick Ngunjiri said the elections are anchored on the companies act and memorandums and articles of each factory that participated.

He added that Chinga was a significant factory as the current KTDA chair Kanyago was a director hence his removal means the new tea regulations would be easier to implement even at the national level as one has to be a director of a factory before they are the national chairman.

Kanyago was replaced as a director representing Mumbuini West at the factory level by Mark Mwangi who said that the farmers elected him as they felt disenfranchised by the previous electoral system.

There were also farmers from other regions that showed up at the stadium to give support to the Chinga farmers who did so under heavy police presence.