BY LUKE KAPCHANGA DN/WEBUYE CANE 30/12/2004
The minister of agriculture Mr Kipruto Kirwa has been challenged to make his position clear on the payment crisis at Nzoia sugar company.
Mr Kirwa was asked yesterday to intervene on behalf of farmers who were left out from benefiting from shs.300million given by the government to clear the arrears in April.
The national chairman of the Kenya national sugarcane growers union Mr Joseph Nato Muleme said the minister should state his stand clearly as the situation is becoming restless.
In November, Mr Muleme wrote a letter to Mr Kirwa demanding payment of shs.415million to farmers by the company as interest. The interest he claimed was as a result of the waiver of interest rates to loans advanced to the factory by the Kenya sugar board.
He urged that charges on sugar development fund had been reduced from 10% - 5% ,while managemant continued deducting the interests on farm preparations and inputs which are given as soft loans.
But ambassador Jack Tumwa called on farmers to give the Nzoia management time as they sort out the mess in skipped cases. Mr Tumwa said the threat to close down the factory in order to force management to clear all the outstanding debts will hurt both farmers and employees.
Speaking in Webuye town Mr Tumwa who is a member of the electoral commission,told farmers to put more pressure on management but they should not use force and violence in their demands.
He asked the management to accept the fact that the records were tampered with and the issue of ghost farmers should be addressed keenly as one way of seeking a solution to the crisis.
Nzoia outgrower company chairman Mr John Musakali has threatened to mobilise his members to close the factory on January 15 if all the skipped cases are not cleared.
Mr Musakali said farmers patience has waned with the claim by the MD Mr Josphat Akoyo that the arrears for 1999 - 2002 had been cleared and were remaining with few cases.
The chairman has maintained that they are owed over shs.100million according to copliled list of skipped farmers whose cane was delivered in the same period.
The farmers are also demanding for the removal of Mr Akoyo accusing him of giving misleading information regarding the payments and evading to meet their representatives.
The minister of agriculture Mr Kipruto Kirwa has been challenged to make his position clear on the payment crisis at Nzoia sugar company.
Mr Kirwa was asked yesterday to intervene on behalf of farmers who were left out from benefiting from shs.300million given by the government to clear the arrears in April.
The national chairman of the Kenya national sugarcane growers union Mr Joseph Nato Muleme said the minister should state his stand clearly as the situation is becoming restless.
Mr Muleme complained that farmers
are becoming impatient and may turn violent to disrupt factory
operations and this could be averted by the minister.
The union boss dismissed the Nzoia sugar company managing director as incompetent and lacks skills to serve farmers adequately.In November, Mr Muleme wrote a letter to Mr Kirwa demanding payment of shs.415million to farmers by the company as interest. The interest he claimed was as a result of the waiver of interest rates to loans advanced to the factory by the Kenya sugar board.
He urged that charges on sugar development fund had been reduced from 10% - 5% ,while managemant continued deducting the interests on farm preparations and inputs which are given as soft loans.
But ambassador Jack Tumwa called on farmers to give the Nzoia management time as they sort out the mess in skipped cases. Mr Tumwa said the threat to close down the factory in order to force management to clear all the outstanding debts will hurt both farmers and employees.
Speaking in Webuye town Mr Tumwa who is a member of the electoral commission,told farmers to put more pressure on management but they should not use force and violence in their demands.
He asked the management to accept the fact that the records were tampered with and the issue of ghost farmers should be addressed keenly as one way of seeking a solution to the crisis.
Nzoia outgrower company chairman Mr John Musakali has threatened to mobilise his members to close the factory on January 15 if all the skipped cases are not cleared.
Mr Musakali said farmers patience has waned with the claim by the MD Mr Josphat Akoyo that the arrears for 1999 - 2002 had been cleared and were remaining with few cases.
The chairman has maintained that they are owed over shs.100million according to copliled list of skipped farmers whose cane was delivered in the same period.
The farmers are also demanding for the removal of Mr Akoyo accusing him of giving misleading information regarding the payments and evading to meet their representatives.
They say that they will boycott cane harvesting to disrupt the factory operations if the money is not paid byn the set date.
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