Kirinyaga County Government is processing title deeds for all coffee factories within the county to give them security to their land assets.
This emerged during an annual meeting that brought together farmers and stakeholders in the coffee sector.
While addressing Mwirua Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Society Annual General Meeting (AGM), the County Executive Committee Member (CEC) for lands, Rev Peter Kanjobe said that the factories’ land titles issuance process was at an advanced stage and all factories will receive the document soon.
Rev Kanjobe added that the documents will safeguard the factories from being grabbed by unscrupulous people who he said had infiltrated lands meant for public facilities such as hospitals, stadiums and police stations.
“Our factories have remained without title deeds from time immemorial exposing them to grabbers, some of whom have already acquired fake titles for them,” said Kanjobe.
The CEC also cited Kianyaga Hospital and Police station as some of the facilities which had been encroached by private developers.
“We cannot allow grabbing of public land to continue and we will go to court to have orders to remove the grabbers and revoke irregularly acquired titles,” he said.
The CEC also noted that all the nine factories that make up Mwirua Cooperative Society are beneficiaries of coffee roasting equipment given by the county government to enable farmers to add value to their coffee.
He promised that the county government will be giving out modern packaging equipment to enhance operations at the roasting house.
Kanjobe also enumerated the development projects that county government has implemented in Ndia Constituency which include construction of a male ward at Baricho Health Centre, rehabilitation of several roads and construction of bridges in the electoral units.
He said that plans to put up a modern market in Kiburu trading centre are also underway.
Speaking at the same forum, the County Executive Committee Member for Agriculture, Cooperative Development and Finance departments, Jacqueline Njogu, said that the AGM, which had brought together members of the nine factories that make up Mwirua Cooperative Society, provided an avenue for the stakeholders to be enlightened on the society’s performance for the year.
She said that her department works closely with the cooperative societies’ elected leaders to ensure that they are run in a transparent manner that safeguards the interests of the members and that the money due to the farmers gets to them.
“Together with the other stakeholders we are also engaged in formulation of policies that guide the cooperative sector in the county and I am happy to report that the sector is performing better especially when it comes to coffee sales for the just concluded financial year.
By Mutai Kipngetich
