Pyrethrum Processing Company ordered to pay Sacco Sh1M after 16-year dispute

Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya head office in Nakuru. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

The High Court has ordered the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya (PPCK) to pay Pareto Sacco Sh1 million, by Friday November 28, 2025.

Judge Hedwig Ong’udi issued the orders yesterday, in a case where Sacco had sued the state-owned company over Sh1.7 billion debt in employees’ deductions.

“The court notes that the parties agreed that the Sh1 million would be paid by Friday. Let the amount be paid by Friday,” ruled Ong’udi.

She directed the parties to sit and agree on payment of the balance before December 16, when the case would be heard.

The orders followed an admission by the company, through Lawyer Diana Okwema, that it had entered a consent to pay Sacco at least Sh10 million.

The said amount was allegedly agreed in a consent dated March 20 after the Sacco allegedly scrapped off the Sh1.7 billion claim and reduced it to Sh10 million.

Ms Okwema deposed that last week Friday, they entered an agreement that PPCK pays the Sacco Sh1 million by Friday this week.

She urged the court to grant the parties two more weeks to agree on how the remaining debt should be paid.

“We are negotiating a possible compromise and we need another date to sit down and settle the remaining amount,” she informed the court.

According to Okwema, the company had taken over the case from the Attorney General office, which participated in the consent signing, in a bid to settle the matter that has been in court since 2016.

Pareto’s lawyer John Okumu did not object to the payment but said that he was not part of the meeting on Friday.

He protested the move by the PPCK to change its representation at the execution stage.

“A consent once signed and endorsed by the court, becomes a judgement and the same should be respected,” deposed Okumu.

According to Okumu, the consent outlined the payment method and period. He, however, did not oppose the court’s orders but insisted that he would seek instructions from Sacco.

The dispute between PPCK and the Sacco hit its 16 years. The parties have been in negotiations since 2021.

The negotiations stalled as the government deposed that Sacco was claiming an exaggerated amount of money.

Pareto Sacco sued PPCK for the Sh1.7 billion debts allegedly accumulated between 2008 and 2015 after agreement for PPCK to deduct money from its employees’ salaries and remit it to Sacco.

The Sacco claimed Sh29.4 million remittances accumulated between 2008 and 2009, plus Sh1.67 billion in penalties and interests accrued.

According to Pareto, in a letter dated June 15, 2015, the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development confirmed that PPCK had Sh1.7 billion debt.

"After defaulting on the payment, it attracted a 5 percent compound interest penalty of Sh1.67 billion,” the Sacco averred.