18/08/2015
Apartheid in the tea Industry as implemented by child killer, Uhuru Kenyatta. This must STOP,
Via Caleb Simba Bravo
WHY SHOULD A TEA FARMER IN CENTRAL (KIKUYU) BE PAID KSHS.30 PER KILO WHEREAS THE SAME FARMER IN NYANZA (KISII) IS PAID KSHS.7 PER KILO:
Tea remains as Gusii’s major source of income, most families rely on tea as the only source of livelihood. Since the demise of other key cash crops ie Coffee and Pyrethrum.
However the only remaining industry which doubles as the only source of livelihood to Omogusii is on its downfall, a serious downfall. The challenges Industry is experiencing today include:
1) Discrimination
2) Black-out from local leadership
Logic has it that tea whether in Kikuyu land, Maasai, Luo, Luyha or Kisii is the same and farmers should be treated equally, given same services and paid at equal rates. However in this industry some farmers are better than others, their product is more prestigious and more variable not based on quality but on mare political grounds.
Records from payment are not only devastating but disgusting, during Kenyatta’s time Tea farmers from Kikuyu land were the highly paid farmers. Then came Moi’s time where records indicate that tea farmers earned an equal rate across the country.
Records changed again during Kibaki’s tenure when Kikuyus started earning more than other tea farmers. Today with Uhuru Kenyatta as president the margin is even wider. My question is where is fairness? Why treat some citizens superior to others openly? The Kenya Tea Development Agency must come clean on this matter.