Interim committee formed to lead Kishushe society election

Taita Taveta Deputy Governor Christine Kilalo during swearing in by Justice Lady Justice Onginjo A C Apondi at Mwatunge grounds, Mwatate town. [File, Standard]

The three factions of the Kishushe Ranching Cooperative Society management have been dissolved and an interim team picked to clean the members register ahead of new elections.

Phillip Uluma, a Senior Deputy Commissioner of Cooperative Development, and Taita Taveta Deputy Governor Christine Kilalo said the election will be conducted in 90 days.

"I have today dissolved the three warring camps and installed a five-member interim team to clean up the membership register to pave the way for elections within 90 days," Uluma said.

"The task of the team is to thoroughly clean up the membership register and oversee genuine elections," he added. The cooperative owns 600,000 acres of land with iron ore deposits in Taveta.

The team picked to head the ranch includes Matilda Walegwa as chairperson, the members are Newton Mwakilenge, Wilfred Mwalimo, Christopher Nyange and Dorcus Mwalili.

"The society belongs to the members and should be run by shareholders. It is a major loss to the community, and members should sit down and resolve their issues," said Uluma.

However, the Mwadoto Kidai faction stormed out of the meeting, demanding the implementation of an earlier inquiry report that had implicated some ranch officials in corruption.

"Those who walked out of the meeting instead of making concerted efforts to find a lasting solution to the challenges of the ranch have no shareholders' interests at heart," said Uluma.

Kilalo urged the interim committee to protect the interests of all members irrespective of camp.

"The county government is fully behind the formation of the interim team to oversee elections. We will work with the new team to ensure that cooperative, mining and land laws are adhered to," the deputy governor told the meeting.

Walegwa accused the police of arbitrarily arresting ranch officials on flimsy grounds. He said they will only work with investors granted consent by shareholders to extract iron ore.

"We will not allow the government to impose investors on us. All investors must pass through the ranch and must be approved in an Annual General Meeting AGM for them to get mining consent," she said.

"Archers Post is the only investor that has been approved by shareholders and given mining consent to mine in the area. We are also calling on other investors to follow suit to avoid confrontation with shareholders," Walegwa told the meeting.