Tea farmers in Githunguri, Kiambu County have been losing millions of shillings to a dubious tea swindling syndicate involving factory clerks and corrupt farmers.
Consequently, the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) in collaboration with those from Weights and Measures raided tea buying centres during an impromptu inspection exercise where they confirmed the theft and manipulation of records.
Preliminary examinations on the weighing scales tested indicated that the farmers were indeed losing at least 1.4kg for every 10 kilos they took to the buying centres.
The manipulated scales were confiscated as most clerks fled after getting wind of the impending raids.
TBK Director Samuel Njane, who led the exercise said the theft had been reported in over 20 tea growing counties.
Njane said several clerks found buying the tea using tampered weighing scales have also been arrested and their machines confiscated.
He said clerks at the factories colluded with certain farmers at the buying centres to tamper with the scales and secretly transfer the stolen number of kilogrammes to them to be paid in return.
“Farmers should be strict at the centres and ensure that before they start weighing their tea, the scales are well calibrated because this theft is demoralising. It is well calculated to deny the farmer maximum returns of their produce,” he said.
William Thuo Kamau, a tea farmer for over 20 years at K9 area in Githunguri, told Sauce.co.ke that while they suspected the machines were tampered with, they did not have a concrete case of such theft.
‘It’s quite discouraging that people have been stealing our hard-earned cash using such dubious means. These criminals should be arrested and prosecuted accordingly.”
Cecilia Chege, tea farmer
“Last year, I produced over 5,000kg of tea and from the revelations, it looks like I lost up to 800kg through such theft. This means as farmers, we have been losing millions of shillings annually through such syndicates,” he said.
Cecilia Wairimu Chege, another tea farmer, said she delivered close to 1,500kg last year and it seems more than 300kg was stolen.
‘It’s quite discouraging that people have been stealing our hard-earned cash using such dubious means. These criminals should be arrested and prosecuted accordingly,” she said.
Joseph Njaramba, an inspector from Weights and Measures, said they have seized the weighing machine to ascertain what caused the manipulations.
“If the clerk is found culpable, action will be taken against him,” he said.
