Wamuchomba challenges Ruto’s coffee reforms, warns of rift among farmers
By Martin Oduor, July 26, 2025In a rare public rebuke, Githunguri Member of Parliament Gathoni Wamuchomba has sharply criticised President William Ruto’s administration over newly introduced reforms in the coffee sector, warning that the government’s direct settlement system could destabilise a delicate rural economy and inflame tensions among coffee farmers.
Posting on her official X account on Saturday, July 26, 2025, Wamuchomba addressed President Ruto directly, expressing deep concern over what she called a forceful implementation of the Direct Settlement System (DSS) — a policy shift that mandates mobile-based payments directly to farmers, bypassing traditional cooperative structures.
“Dear President Ruto. Let me inform you here because I don’t have access to you. Either someone is misadvising you on coffee payment methods or you didn’t take good advice,” she wrote.
The DSS, spearheaded by the Ministry of Cooperatives under Ruto’s broader economic reform agenda, is aimed at streamlining payments and reducing the exploitation of smallholder farmers by middlemen.
However, critics like Wamuchomba argue that the new system risks undermining a century-old cooperative movement that remains central to the socio-economic fabric of rural Kenya.
“The cooperative movement is our heritage and our socio-economic pillar, which farmers guard jealously. As a coffee farmer, I don’t support [the DSS] too,” she stated.
Wamuchomba, who represents one of Kenya’s largest coffee-growing constituencies, acknowledged that elements of the DSS may be beneficial at the aggregator level but warned that extending the model to direct Mpesa payments at the farm level would alienate and confuse farmers.
“Listening to my farmers, the DSS is good but up to the aggregators’ level. Stop pushing forcefully the new direct-to-farmer payment via Mpesa,” she wrote.
Beyond procedural grievances, the MP cast doubt on the integrity of the system’s implementation team, calling the institutions and individuals behind the reform “a suspect group of boardroom actors out to loot our farmers’ money.”
Her statement reflects growing unease in Kenya’s coffee belt, where farmers are still recovering from years of dwindling returns, mismanagement, and stalled reforms.
The government’s new model, which was introduced with the promise of ending corruption and increasing transparency, is now being questioned for potentially disrupting the traditional cooperative structures that many small-scale farmers still trust.
Wamuchomba’s comments strike a deeper chord in Kenya’s ongoing national debate: whether the push for digitisation and efficiency in agricultural systems can coexist with entrenched communal models that have long underpinned rural economies.
Her message ends with a plea for consultation and inclusion:
“If this interests you, engage some of us for honest opinion. I remain truthful.”
Neither President Ruto nor the Ministry of Cooperatives had responded to the post by press time.
The remarks are the latest in a string of challenges to the president’s rural economic reforms, and they highlight the political sensitivity of tampering with legacy institutions like coffee cooperatives.