KTDA Urges Leaders to Stop Playing Politics With Tea Industry Amid Sector Pressures

Kenya, January 06 2026 - The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has fired back at political critics of the country’s tea sector, urging lawmakers to refrain from what it describes as unhelpful politicisation of the industry and instead focus on constructive dialogue and solutions.

The warning comes amid heightened scrutiny over bonus payments, management of factories and proposed legislative changes affecting the multi-billion-shilling sector. Addressing journalists at a press briefing held in Murang’a, KTDA Holdings Chairman Chege Kirundi said critics were damaging the reputation of tea, one of Kenya’s traditional export earners, for political gain and confusing farmers with mixed messages at a critical time for the sub-sector.

“We urge our critics to stop playing politics with the tea industry and instead engage with facts and experts,” Kirundi said, highlighting that the agency and tea factories had already submitted their views on the Tea Amendment Bill before Parliament. He emphasised that ongoing debate should be anchored in the actual interests of the farmers rather than political rhetoric.

The remarks indirectly responded to public criticisms by Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba, who has raised concerns about low bonus payments to tea farmers, alleged financial stress within the KTDA system and questioned the effectiveness of existing governance structures.

Wamuchomba and others have challenged the leadership’s handling of tea factory operations and the broader management of the sector. Kenya’s tea sector has faced considerable debate in recent months. Some politicians, notably MP Wamuchomba, have warned that unless urgent reforms are enacted the industry could edge toward crisis, with factories struggling to pay farmers their bonuses and operate sustainably.

Wamuchomba has also criticised proposals such as new levies under the Tea Amendment Bill, characterising them as additional burdens on already stressed factories and growers. The tensions reflect deeper structural issues that have dogged the tea industry.

Farmers have publicly expressed frustration over relatively low bonus payouts, even in years when export revenues, as reported by government officials, showed significant growth, prompting comparisons between national figures and grassroots realities that some critics describe as contradictory.

KTDA’s defence of its governance approach also comes with broader explanations of the pressures affecting profitability. Directors from some tea zones have previously explained that a stronger Kenyan shilling against the U.S. dollar, the currency in which tea is traded internationally, has reduced the shilling value of global earnings, directly impacting bonuses paid to farmers despite volumes or prices achieved at auction.