[Source: Daily Nation, by Anita Chepkoech]
Multinational tea estates in Kericho and Bomet counties will not have their leases renewed until they agree with the devolved governments on the farms’ future, the National Land Commission has ordered.
Some county government officials have been pushing for the farms to he handed back to the community after the leases expire.
James Finlay and Unilever, which have been growing tea for decades, are among the affected firms. James Finlay has operated in Kenya since the 1920s and owns 5,000 hectares of tea, employs 9,500 people and operates five factories in the counties. Unilever has been growing tea in Kenya since 1924 and its estate in Kericho covers over 8,700 hectares.
Local communities have asked the government to surrender to them about 200,000 acres still occupied by James Finlay, Unilever, George Williamson, and Sotik Highlands, among other tea farms in the South Rift.
They claim British colonialists condemned hundreds of families from the Kipsigis and Talai communities to lifelong poverty by depriving them of their land. They accuse the government of failing to recognise this injustice after independence.
Residents are now celebrating the decision by the land commission requiring the multinational companies and the government to compensate the communities.
How this decision will affect the British multinationals remains to be seen. NLC has ordered that a fresh survey and audit be carried out for land allocated to multinational firms in Kericho and Bomet and that the land in excess of the size documented in official records be passed on to the counties to hold in trust for the communities.
The NLC also ordered that the land rates and rent for land occupied by multinationals and other tea firms be raised to benefit the local communities.
This is after it emerged that the companies did not only under-declare the acreages and value of land, but also paid a paltry Sh294 per acre instead of Sh40,000 agricultural rates according to the law.
The Kericho County government had petitioned a panel of four chaired by Commissioner Samuel Tororei on the issue on behalf of the communities.
The NLC further said multinationals should lease land from the counties at commercial rates and expired leases should only be renewed with host counties’ consent.
With the valuation of tea estates having been done last over 25 years ago, the companies have continued to pay a negligible amount for such a prime agricultural zone.
