Newly elected directors wait for nod to run tea factories

Members of the Kiru Tea Factory in Mathioya, Murang'a in a tour of the plant. [Boniface Gikandi, Standard]

Only four of 10 newly elected boards of directors in tea factories are yet to receive the Registrar of Companies certification. 

The boards of Kiru, Githambo and Kanyenya-ini are waiting for the CR 12 certificates that will make them the lawful entities to run the tea processing companies.

A CR 12 is an official confirmation by the Registrar of Companies in Kenya as to whom the directors and shareholders of a company are.

Other factories at Njunu, Ngere, Makomboki, Nduti, Gatunguru, Gacharage and Ikumbi obtained their Registrar of Companies certification two weeks ago effectively removing the former directors from the records.

Two other factories in Nyeri and Kirinyaga have similarly acquired their certificates. They are Gitugi in Othaya, Nyeri and Ndima in Kirinyaga.

More factories, including Kiru, expect their certification this week, according to factory chairman lawyer Chege Kirundi.

At Kanyenya-ini, Kiru and Githambo, the new directors have sought amendments of the CR 12 issued to remove Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) zonal director Francis Mark Macharia and agency employees Antony Muriithi Naftaly, and Peter Kinyua.

Kinyua was a regional manager before he was transferred to Kisii. He was replaced by Muriithi presently in charge of tea factories in Murang’a and Nyeri counties.

Kiru Factory Company secretary Bernard Kiragu said they are awaiting the rectified certificate on Friday.

In the Kiru CR 12 certificate, Macharia and Kinyua are listed as the directors yet they never participated in the election on April 16.

“We have petitioned the registrar of companies to correct the anomalies to remove the details of the outsiders who had served in the board before 2019,” said Kiragu, who replaced John Kennedy Omanga as the company secretary at Kiru.

At Kanyenya-ini factory, director Mary Gitaka said they also wanted the removal of outsiders from the board of directors.

At the same time, the directors of tea factories in Murang’a whose election has been certified by the Registrar of Companies are seeking to hold meetings with the KTDA to iron out some issues.


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