This archive report was first published on 9 August 2019.
On August 9, 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a directive to restructure the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) and the Kenya Farmers Association. This move has already started yielding results, with the Trade and Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary, Peter Munya, taking swift action.
Within two weeks of the President's order, Munya deregistered KPCU as a cooperative, appointed new managers, and invited detectives to interrogate the outgoing board of directors for possible culpability. A forensic audit has been commissioned to guide the next steps in reviving the ailing entity, which has been comatose since 1997.
The audit aims to establish where KPCU's assets went, whether it genuinely owes anyone other than farmers money, and whether it would be viable in the changed dynamics of coffee farming and marketing. However, the team will soon realize that they have a daunting task ahead, as the woes of KPCU and other bodies established to support farmers are rooted in blatant mismanagement, outright theft, and political interference.
Any serious attempts at revival should come with naming and shaming, as well as holding the plunderers to account. The coffee landscape has changed significantly since the sector was liberalized, with KPCU facing competition in its key mandates, including milling and marketing. Farmers are now getting services from different players, and whether KPCU still has their goodwill is an important factor in deciding the direction of any restructuring.
A bottom-up approach should be taken in deciding which way a restructured union goes. Luckily, the report by the task force, led by Prof Joe Kieyah, has already proposed value addition at farm or cooperative level, specialty coffee, restructuring of coffee societies, removal of marketing agents, direct settlement system, and creation of a Sh200 million fund to subsidise coffee inputs as ways of encouraging farmers to raise production.
