The
future of the multi-national British companies which own tea plantations and
factories in Kenya is looking rather bleak following intensified demands by
natives on whose ancestral land the companies were built nearly a century ago,
for compensation and the sharing of the billions of shillings profits accrued
annually.
Most
of the tea plantations and green leaves processing factories are located in the
South Rift counties of Kericho and Bomet, and also in the North Rift county of
Nandi.
Last
week, Kericho county government launched fresh demands that members of the
Kipsigis andTalai communities who were driven out of their ancestral
land on which the tea plantations and factories were
established at the beginning of the 20th century should be compensated by
the British government for the atrocities and grave mistakes which its
colonial administration in Kenya did to the communities.
Members
of the Kericho County Assembly raised the issue during a stormy and heated
debate. The MCAs said they were pursuing the British government to compensate
thousands of members of the Kipsigis and the Talai communities for the land
lost due to forcible acquisition for tea plantations during the colonial era.
Similar
demands had earlier been raised by members of parliament representing various
constituencies in Nandi county. There are close to 40 large scale tea
plantations and close to 30 green leaves tea processing factories in the South
Rift regions of Kericho and Bomet counties. And in the North Rift county
of Nandi, there are about 20 tea estates and 15 factories, all located in
the Nandi Hills sub-county.
Addressing
newsmen at a hotel in Kericho town, Governor Paul Chepkwony disclosed that he
had already instructed the procurement department of his government to hire
lawyers to pursue the matter.
The
move came after members of the Kericho county assembly unanimously approved a
motion to ask the British government for compensation for the communal land
which was taken away at gunpoint from the locals by the colonial administration
police force. They forced the natives to relocate to the remote and semi-arid land
in Bomet and Belgut to facilitate space for the establishment of tea
plantations and factories.
Chepkwony
said the matter was well covered in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation
Commission report and that it is going to be the second case after one launched
by the Mau Mau war veterans by Kenyans seeking compensation from the
British government. The MCAs also asked Queen Elizabeth to apologise to the
families of the Kipsigis who were the victims of injustice committed by
the British colonial power in Kenya.
The
settlers who pioneered tea growing in Kenya were mainly ex-soldiers and veteran
of the First World War who fought the Germans in the East African campaign.
They had started the experiment tea crop planting in 1910 when they were given
land which was grabbed from the Kipsigis and Talais.
Members
of the Talai sub-clan numbering about 2,000 families were later in 1934
banished and exiled to the remotest areas of Gwassi Hills in Suba region of
South Nyanza under the hastily introduced Laibon Ordinance Bill introduced into
the white settlers-dominated colonial Legislative Council in 1933 on suspicion
that they were mobilising a rebellion by the native communities against the
acquisition of their land for tea plantations against the white settlers.
The
pioneer white settlers after having acquired large tracts of the fertile
highland had imported the seedlings of the tea crops from India and Ceylon and
the tea planting began in earnest between 1920 and 1926.
After
seizing the Kipsigis land, the new white settlers then named the tea
estates after the names of the sub-clans whose ancestral land were grabbed. For
example, Chomogonday Estate was named after the famous Kipsigis sub-clan called
Kapchomogondek.
This
is the clan of the late ex-Senior Chief Cheborge Arap Tengecha who ruled Bureti
location with an iron fist for many years. The same with Kitumbe Estate
(Kapkitumbe), Kapsongoi Estate (Kapkipsongoyiat), Kimugu Estate was
named after River Kimugung that traverses the area through Kericho town to Chemosit (Sondu-Miriu).
Governor
Chepkwony told newsmen that experts will be hired to do evaluation in order to
determine how much money should be paid to the natives in terms of
compensation. The evaluation will be carried out in the thousands hectares of
land currently owned by the two British multi-national tea and flower
companies, namely Unilever and Finlays tea companies in Kericho and Bomet
counties.
There
are also a dozens of tea estates privately owned by individuals and smaller
firms such as George Williamson Tea Estate, and Sotik Highland Tea Companies in
Sotik. The family of the retired President Daniel Moi also owns Kaisugu Limited
Tea Estate and a factory.
The
governor explained that his government will also be seeking compensation and
the sharing of profits received by the companies from the sales of the crops in
line with tenant and landlord laws. He said the compensation was possible
because the Kipsigis people are the rightful and legal owners of the
land that benefits mainly foreigners. The sales of tea are raking close to
Sh 35billion annually.
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