This archive report was first published on 30 October 2021.
On October 30, 2021, the High Court in Kenya ordered six financial institutions to unfreeze bank accounts belonging to 130,000 Murang'a dairy farmers.
The accounts, which had a total balance of Sh148,823,809.89, were frozen on the advice of the Cooperatives Commissioner, sparking a contractual tiff between the farmers and Murang'a County Creameries (MCC).
Senator Irungu Kang'ata, the lawyer for the farmers, argued that the amount should be treated as credit arbitrarily procured from them by the six institutions, attracting damages and interest that the court should determine.
Justice Kanyi Kimondo ruled that the act of freezing the accounts had negatively impacted the operations of the farmers in the past two months, with no disclosed dispute between the financial institutions and the plaintiffs.
"To fully appreciate the matter, none of the financial institutions has disclosed a dispute between it and the plaintiffs... if the conduct of the commissioner is finally impeached, there will be no contractual or legal foundation for the freeze orders," Justice Kimondo noted in his ruling.
