FRESHA-THE TALE OF ECONOMIC TERRORISTS WITHIN US! Over the last few months, I indicated my dissatisfaction with the running of Githunguri Dairy Farmers Co-operative Society (GDFC) by an inept, inefficient, and lacking board as is currently constituted. My calls attracted a lot of interests from farmers, industry players, the media and general public. Notably, a high profile delegation led by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Hon. Felix Koskei, Deputy Governor His Excellency Githinji, area MP & former GDFC Chairman Hon Njoroge Baiya, Hon Members County Assembly of Kiambu; Mwaura Wa Njihia, Karungo Wa Thangwa, Makena Wa Wanyangi visited the dilapidated facility. The impromptu visit attracted a lot of criticism from the Board members after their efforts to block the Minister from accessing the processing plant ended in futility. The visit was however not without some drama as two board members ordered the security guards to have me ejected out of the facility. The BOG had earlier in the morning deliberated in an emergency board meeting that I should be denied access and there were hawk eyes allover trying to figure out which vehicle I was travelling in. This was following my highly publicized article detailing the inefficiencies, theft, and wastage taking place at GDFC. Following my calls for increment in milk prices, the board sent emissaries both directly and indirectly asking me to tone down on my agitation. There were monetary offers which I utterly rejected and stood my ground that farmers are been exploited and enslaved. This triggered a series of verbal attack on me and members of my family by the Chairman a one ‘MUKORA’ during the ‘suspect’ farmer’s education days. He has been going round claiming am mad and that farmers should pray for me and my brother who resigned at Fresha after receiving threats and harassment for been my brother. Mukora has continued to claim that my brother was laid off for stealing from GDFC- He has since moved to court to seek a legal redress on this matter. In my earlier posts, I indicated there have been threats on my life, this following my intended publication of a post that I have been working on, detailing the change of fortunes for these directors, their spouses, mistresses and cronies. That article is under review by my lawyers and will soon be in the public domain before 19th October 2013. Money has changed hands, people have lost lives, farmers have been skinned alive, and our resources drained. They have inflicted too much fear such that, people tend to think am an immortal on speaking out loudly and mentioning names. As you read this today, there is a woman been laid on a grave after she was strangled by a rope attempting to put or carry a bundle of nap pier grass on her back, the bundle was so heavy and she was very weak and collapsed with the rope around her wrinkled neck, all this to feed his two cows and take the milk to these goons. As you read this, there is a family in total anguish following an attack by thieves as they milked their cows in the dead of the night. The couple’s 16yrs old daughter is recovering in hospital following the ordeal during which she was raped. Across the constituency there are many more farmers struggling; to pay loans, to settle bills, all in the name of getting their livelihood from dairy farming. These are the men and women whom I speak for. They are the thousands voiceless, fear stricken, threatened and exploited lot that everyone fears to speak for. This is my call to all of us, let’s rise beyond our interest and speak out. A farmer deserves to be paid well, it’s not a favor it’s a demand that we have to make and have our voices heard. Trying to review the composition of the current board as it is, there is no doubt that GDFC is in the hands of an inept board. HERE ARE THE FACTS; 1. The current chair who is the only graduate in that board has no mandate to transact the business of the co-operative pegged on the following stringent reasons a. He is just from an election where he was elected unopposed-there was no reason to even dream opposing him; he would have gotten his way anyway. Thus, having been from the route elections, he ceased been the ‘Chairman BOG’ he requires an endorsement from the farmers on 19th October 2013. He is left with only one option, to have his fellow BOG members ‘elect’ him as an ‘Acting Chairman’ 2. The BOG even despite been unconstitutional, lacks quorum; following the successful nullification by our honorable courts of the elections of two BOG members, after massive irregularities where the current ‘Chairman’ tried to rig them in. Two similar cases are awaiting a court determination which smacks off a big statement; the manner in which their elections are conducted! 3. Thirdly, a BOG member who was controversially re-elected after a woman contestant was rigged out is currently fighting for his life in a Nairobi hospital, thereby incapacitated to attend board meetings. This is a clear pointer that the board not only lacks quorum, but also lacks the legal capacity to transact any business on behalf of the cooperative. It has also not escaped my attention that the board contravenes Chapter 7, Part I, Article 81(B) of our constitution on representation of the people which states that; The electoral process shall comply with the following principles; Article 81(b) ‘Not more than two thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender’ rendering the board thus unconstitutional. The board constitutes of nine octogenarian (aged) men, or is there any woman or a youthful director??? Needless to state, the board lacks representation of the youth, persons with disabilities and other interest or vulnerable groups who also happens to be a big chunk of the membership. GDFC should have been long under statutory management away from the rogue directorship and for this the Registrar of Co-operatives is spot on. In view of the above, is there a legitimate board to even call for an AGM? It bothers me even how they transact and engage with their bankers, suppliers & contractors. This is an impropriety (scandal) of monumental proportions. To the Governor, Under the devolved government, I wish to call upon His Excellency the Governor of Kiambu County William Gitau Kabogo to step in urgently and salvage this ‘Multi-billion White Industry’ before he calls for the first Investors Conference. Before you create more jobs, livelihoods and opportunities, you should salvage this one from the York of absolute melt down. Posterity will never forgive you if this one ‘sleeps’ under your watch. What is our county per capita income visa vi other counties? For your information your Excellency the Governor, Mwangi Wa Iria- Governor Muranga County, is all systems go reviving the dairy sector going for the GDFC jugular as the market leader, so is the Uasin Gishu Governor. This comes hot on the heels of the acquisition by Brookside of a stake in an Ethiopian Dairy Company, not forgetting the privatization of New KCC 2000 Ltd. This is an indicator that it’s an all daggers drawn and market players are applying new tricks to retain and gain new market niche. Can the residents of this County under your stewardship your Excellency our Governor afford to allow nine octogenarian men ruin the future and fortunes of the Fresha flagship; the County’s Pride that has for so long painstakingly been built? During the AGM which you attended, you assured farmers that you would be with them and protect their industry and more importantly ensure that they are paid well. You painfully described how you buys a packet of milk at 100 shillings yet the farmer is paid a merely 30 shillings for the same. This is after extraction of butter and ghee which are even more profiting. If there is a time that we require your intervention, it is now. The farmer has been enslaved for so long, milk prices have rocketed but the fortunes of our poor parents continue to dwindle at the expense of a few rapacious individuals. We have seen giants like Pan Paper Mills, KMC, Komothai Coffee Bank, Mboi Kamiti, Limuru Dairy among many others go under because of massive corruption and mismanagement, God forbid, GDFC is headed the same painful path. Not forgetting Lari’s Sundale is at the mercys of the auctioneers hammer. It will call for leadership, political goodwill, sobriety to save Fresha from a foreseeable collapse. The air of expectancy is rife, following the promises you made in the previous AGM, now that the upcoming one is around the corner, 19th October 2013, we all hope you have good news. This will be a litmus test for your leadership, ability and commitment to the promises you made to our deprived farmers. Been a farmer in this society is like been a cult member in the mafia under worlds, dare you speak, but from the tweets, thanks to the digital age, the agitation is outpouring. Our farmers have been suffering silently.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 10:10:33 +0000
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