Detectives looking into the activities of the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) extended their raid to Mombasa auction as the State seeks to unravel the reasons behind persistent low earnings by farmers.
The Friday searches at the East Africa Tea Traders Association (Eatta) offices in Mombasa and KTDA headquarters in Nairobi happened concurrently.
President Uhuru Kenyatta last month ordered Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki “to conduct an inquiry into the alleged statutory and regulatory compliance breaches allegedly committed by KTDA and its directors.” This, Mr Kenyatta says, includes “potential price and auction manipulation, abuse of dominance, insider trading, wastefulness and breach of directors’ fiduciary duties.”
The inquiry will look into KTDA’s activities and those of its subsidiaries, including KTDA Management Services, Chai Trading Company, Kenya Tea Packers (Ketepa), Majani Insurance Brokers, Greenland Fedha, The Tea Machinery and Engineering Company, KTDA Power Company, and Dubai-based KTDA DMCC.
