KTDA dispute widens as different boards emerge

Lewis Njoka @LewisNjoka

Leadership wrangles at the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has deepened with two separate boards of directors claiming to be in charge of the management of the company’s business.

On Monday, the new board led by David Ichoho wrote a memo addressed to directors and employees of the nine KTDA companies announcing that a new 12-member board is now in charge and should be accorded the necessary support.

The new board, according to the statement by Ichoho, was elected in an extra-ordinary general meeting held on June 18 with the backing of Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Peter Munya.

But in a quick rejoinder, Peter Kanyago-led board of directors, in a statement signed by the Company Secretary, denounced the new team, saying the KTDA board had not been reconstituted and is still in charge. 

“Our attention has been drawn to reports of a meeting by a group of 12 individuals allegedly calling themselves directors of KTDA Holdings Plc  held on June 21, 2021,” said the statement in part.

“We wish to notify KTDA Holdings shareholders and the general public that the meeting was not convened by KTDA Holdings Plc. The public are advised to ignore any pronouncements and declarations by this group of people,” it added.

Business Hub has now established that the Kanyago team is still calling the shots at the KTDA Nairobi headquarters despite a purported takeover by the Ichoho team.

An employee of the agency whose identity we have withheld as she is not allowed to speak to the media intimated that the Kanyago team was still in charge but added they were ready to work with whichever board took over.

“That is a fight between our seniors. It has nothing to do with us,” she said.  Yesterday there was heavy police presence at both the ground floor entrance of Farmers Building where the KTDA head office is located as well as on the eighth floor where the CEO’s office is located. 

New leadership

 Additionally, Business Hub has established that KTDA Management Services director, Alfred Njagi, began his leave yesterday, a move that could complicate the implementation of a June 21 order by the Ichoho-led board instructing him to announce to factory managers that the a new leadership had taken over.

“The board of directors KTDA Holdings Limited hereby instructs you, Alfred Njagi, to issue a communication to all the 54  factory unit managers and the satellite factories informing them that the new board of KTDA Holdings Limited has officially taken over with effect from June 21, 2021,” said the board in an memo seen by Business Hub.  “The factory unit managers are hereby directed to convene board meeting in their respective factories with the new board as soon as possible but not later than June 25, 2021,” the memo further stated.

Additionally the new board instructed Njagi to inform the factory managers to recognise all the newly elected board members and immediately commence working with them. By the time of going to press, we had not managed to reach Njagi for comment. The embattled CEO, Lerionka Tiampati, declined to comment, saying he had nothing to say at the time. “I have nothing to comment about the current situation. Nothing I can say,” he said. – Additional reporting by Nicholas Waitathu and Evans Nyakundi