23 July 2008
editorial
Nairobi — The corporate world was last week treated to the bizarre spectacle of the mass "resignation" of almost all the top managers of the Kenya Planters' Co-operative Union.
Days after this melodrama which appears to have revolved around the CEO, Mr Peter Kimani, Agriculture Permanent Secretary Romano Kiome added another twist when he announced that 10 officials from the Co-operative ministry would move in to fill the void.
We do not wish to get caught up in the flurry of self-righteous accusations and counter-accusations between the board and the management of KPCU. However, we have some observation to make.
For nearly two years, KPCU, hobbled by increasingly powerful bad debtors, competition from other millers and marketers, and fluid Government policy, has been hovering around like a rudderless ship.
In between, General Manager Ruth Mwaniki was sacked, while chairman Stephen Kirubi died. Then the KPCU board was dissolved by the Government, ushering in an uncertain system where the routine annual resignation of a third of the board was disregarded. That is why all of them have to go at once, during the coming annual general meeting.
All the ambitious plans to sell packaged and branded coffee to China and other countries appear to have dissipated along the way.
Our point is that neither management nor the board has given coffee farmers any reason for hope. Co-operative minister Joseph Nyagah has to effect a drastic overhaul of the KPCU human and financial mess. We can only hope he won't make things worse.
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Read comments. Write your own.
