Chania Location Mwahota Ikai Company Limited shareholders in Gatundu risk losing land over debts
Members of the debts-ridden Chania Location Mwahota Ikai Company Limited at Makwa village, Gatundu North Constituency in Kiambu county now want the government to intervene and rescue it from possible auction over undisclosed amount of debt.
The formal cooperative with hundreds of shareholders comprising aged men and women and which has owned hundreds of acres of land with high-quality coffee since 1970’s in Gatundu North and Naivasha constituencies is struggling to repay a debt running into millions.
In an attempt to lift its head from the raging waters of minimized production, the company is reported to have secured the money from local banks to boost production through modernized way of farming, a debt that is now at the verge of plunging it into a hole.
According to members of the struggling shareholding company, decades of mismanagement, embezzlement of its production returns, corrupt dealings among other challenges are to blame for the fall of the company, some of whose assets have unsuccessfully been disposed to offset loans secured from local banks.
Chania Location Mwahota Ikai Co. Ltd is a typical example of companies in the country that ride out of the storm using debts only to be driven straight into the direction of even stronger headwinds.
During their annual general meeting that saw journalists locked out, members expressed concerns that despite having sold its prime 18 acres at Sh 146 million to clear a former loan, the company still owes local banks millions of money.
The members led by Mburu Wa Mungai, Joseph Ngugi and Francis Wamburu regretted that the insolvent firm has been making losses for the last ten years.
They lamented that while the management has been attributing the losses to low sales of their produce, lack of better markets internationally and high costs of production, the government should investigate its management to unravel the mystery of losses and unending debts.
According to Wamburu who resigned as a director following maladministration of the firm and failure by the top leadership to disclose its financial statements, the company will continue to make debts unless the entire management is overhauled, a forensic audit conducted and a new team allowed to steer the company going forward.
Wamburu is also said to have resigned following a bungled election that had been organized with predetermined results.
Instead of continuing to incur losses under the guise of poor production and sale of their coffee produce, members of the company urged the government to, besides conducting a forensic audit, facilitate subdivision of the land to enable every shareholder to develop their share in their way.
Last year, the company was ordered to pay the government Sh7, 300, 000 as Capital Gains Tax after it sold a section of its land to clear a debt.
During the AGM, members resolved to continue with plans to sub-divide the company’s land in Naivasha and Makwa for personal development before the company is dissolved.
Our efforts to reach the management for a comment on alleged mismanagement and downfall of the company were futile as journalists remained locked outside the meeting venue all-day while our calls went unanswered.
