Former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter has denied owning tea harvesting machines that have sparked controversy in the South Rift.
This comes after Keter’s opponents in the Kericho gubernatorial contest accused him of the use of machines on multinational tea fields, which have resulted in the loss of jobs for many tea workers.
He, however, broke silence early this week stating he has no tea harvesting machine challenging his critics to show evidence that he owns tea harvesting machines
“I don’t own any tea picking machines nor have I ever done business with the tea companies in that regard,” he said.
Erick Mutai, Keter’s major opponent, has campaigned on a promise that if he wins, his administration would force global tea companies to stop using tea harvesters.
“If elected governor, my administration will do away with the tea plucking machines owned by Kericho tycoons and rehire the tea pickers the firms had fired and replaced with the machines. It is the main cause of unemployment in Kericho and the death of the local economy,” Mutai said.
Keter also requested a ratio of one machine to human labour from then-Agriculture Assistant Minister James Kembi Gitura, as well as assurances that no tea pickers would be laid off as a result of the machines.
Gitura responded by stating that James Finlay had imported 52 plucking machines and Unilever had imported 15.
According to the Hansard report, James Finlay had a machine-to-worker ratio of 1:7, whereas Unilever had a ratio of 1:15.
Multinational tea corporations led by James Finlay claimed this year before the Senate’s Labour and Social Welfare Committee, chaired by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, that their tea harvesting had been totally mechanised.
As a result, the UK-based tea company, which previously employed 12,000 workers during the hand plucking era, has reduced its workforce to 5,000.
Kericho Chamber of Commerce noted that the migration resulted in joblessness and harmed the local economy.
Politicians have used the tea companies to appeal to the emotions of local residents on several occasions during the campaign.
Governor Chepkwony rose to power and maintained it in the last two general election by convincing members of the Kipsisgis and Talai clans that he would fight the British government to compensate them for historical injustices, such as the forcible acquisition of land to establish the expansive tea farms.
A Sh2 trillion compensation action filed by 115,000 members of the Kipsigis and Talai clans against the British colonial authority for evicting them from 800,000 acres to make room for the tea plantation that crosses Kericho and Bomet counties is pending at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The property is now occupied by multinational tea firms under a 99-year lease.
