The Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) has maintained that it has nothing to hide as far as its operations, financial transactions, and business are concerned.

In a statement, KTDA criticised invasion of its Head Office in Nairobi on April 16, which it says has disrupted the green leaf payment to farmers and suppliers, fertilizer procurement, and employee salaries.

The tea authority has revealed that the following documents and materials were illegally retrieved from the offices during the raid:

1. Computer Servers and Hard Disks.

2. Payment records of 620,000 Farmers.

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3. Shareholders registers.

4. Title Deeds and other important records and documents.

However, KTDA Group has undertaken to abide by the law in handling matters concerning tea farmers, as long as proper and legal procedures are followed.

“The Group does not have anything to cover up and has been in existence for the last

twenty-one (21) years doing lawful business. The criminal allegations being levelled against

the Group are false and malicious,” said KTDA in the statement.

It added that it will continue focusing on delivery of services to its shareholders, tea farmers, employees, and other stakeholders as it seek to return operations to normalcy.

Fred Matiang’i. PHOTO/COURTESY 

The position by KTDA comes days after Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i maintained that the government’s ongoing reforms in the tea sector were unstoppable.

“The intention of the comprehensive reforms by the government is to ensure that farmers access markets and get value for their money,” said Matiang'i on Tuesday.

The CS instead blamed middlemen for the woes facing tea farmers and needed to be tamed.