Tea factory leaders in Meru are challenging the government’s 0.8pc tea export levy in court, blaming the charge, alongside rising operating costs, for worsening returns to farmers following lower bonus payments this year.
Zone Seven Tea Factories chairman and Kiegoi Tea Factory director Baptista Muriki Kanyaru said Iminti, Kiegoi and Kinoro factories were continuing with the legal challenge despite what he described as pressure on other factories to withdraw.
Kanyaru accused MPs and senators of failing tea farmers by approving the levy despite objections from industry leaders, saying the resulting financial pressure was now exposing factory directors to blame from growers disappointed by their annual payments.
“As a leader, I was deeply pained when Parliament passed the Bill despite my efforts to submit memorandums opposing the 0.8pc levy to our MPs and Senator Kathuri Murungi,” he said.
He claimed he had held several meetings with Meru MPs and presented memorandum objections to the Tea Board of Kenya, warning that the levy could undermine the industry’s competitiveness and farmers’ earnings.
His concerns were echoed by environmentalist and Igembe South MP aspirant Mithika Mzalendo, who said leaders should speak out over the financial difficulties facing tea-growing households.
“Our people must know the truth about what is happening to their earnings. Leaders cannot remain silent when farmers are struggling. President William Ruto must come to the rescue of farmers not deceiving them,” Mzalendo said.
Kanyaru challenged Senator Kathuri to push for an amendment to remove the levy instead of publicly criticising its effects on farmers.
The dispute comes as tea growers across the country protest lower bonus payments for the 2025/26 financial year.
The government, however, maintains that the levy is payable by tea exporters and is not a direct deduction from farmers’ earnings.
Under the Tea (Levy) Regulations, 2026, exporters pay 0.8 per cent of the auction value or customs value for direct sales, with the funds intended to support marketing, research, infrastructure and regulation.
Kanyaru’s argument is that the levy can nevertheless affect the industry’s overall returns and the amount available for distribution to farmers.
The court challenge comes amid wider national debate over disparities in tea bonuses.
Kanyaru maintained that the Meru factories pursuing the levy challenge would not withdraw their case, insisting that farmers’ interests must take precedence over political considerations.
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