By JAMES MUNYEKI
Laikipia, Kenya: Dairy farmers in Nyandarua and Laikipia counties have opposed the proposed sale of the New KCC.
The farmers instead want to be given leeway to manage the company that has been on a steady growth path in the last 10 years.
They argued that they would suffer losses if the company was sold to a private investor.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Nyahururu yesterday, their spokesman, John Thairu, urged the Government to reconsider the move.
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“It would be wrong for the Government to sell off the company instead of leaving it under our care.
“It is the farmers who have been selling the milk to the company and we should be given preference,” he said.
Buy shares
He noted that the farmers should be given first priority to buy shares and become owners of the company.
Thairu commended the Government for the support it had given the company since 2003.
The farmers welcomed the re-appointment of the company chairman Matu Wamae, saying that he had done a tremendous job reviving it.
“Let no one cast a stone at the chairman as we are all behind him. He is the one who has made sure that the company is where it is now,” said Jane Muthoni, a dairy farmer.
