Tea farmers from Kakamega County have called upon the county government to expedite the construction of a tea processing plant that is to be set up in Madala village, Shinyalu Sub County that is to benefit 4000 tea farmers from the county.
Plans to construct the tea factory kicked off in 2015 and an 8 acre piece of land was bought and fenced in readiness for the construction.
Five years later, tea farmers are now furious in fear that Governor Wycliffe Oparanya’s second and last term is coming to an end without any signs of construction of the processing plant.
The farmers claim that for the last four financial years, money has always been set aside for the construction of the factory yet nothing apart from the toilets has been put up.
Responding to this, the CEC trade and industrialization Alfred Matianyi has assured the farmers that construction of the tea factory will kick off late this year and will be complete and operational before the next general elections.
According to Matianyi, the county government has been in the process of acquiring the needed procedures before starting the construction and the process is near completion.
He adds that governor Oparanya has given priority to industrialization and intends to leave behind an operational milk processing plant in Malava Sub County, maize milling plant in Lugari and a tea factory in Shinyalu in an effort to curb unemployment.
The factory set to cost approximately 160 million shillings is expected to serve farmers from Khwisero, Shinyalu and Ikolomani from Kakamega County who grow tea.
