Newscasts - Kenya land standoff sends a warning to foreign tea farm owners
17/04/2025 12:44
Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_kkr74fzx&referenceId=tag:reuters.com,2025:newsml_RW726916042025RP1_K15&pageId=Newscasts Source: 'Reuters - General news videos' Description: A dispute between a British-owned tea plantation and a local community in western Kenya has reached boiling point in what could be a sign of turbulent times ahead for tea producers facing a growing backlash over colonial-era injustices. Emma Jehle reports. Short Link: https://refini.tv/4jgReu2 Video Transcript: In the lush tea fields of the Sitoi Estate in Nandi Hills, Kenya, a quiet standoff with deep colonial-era roots is underway. Women like Milka Chapkwony are back in the fields, picking tea not as workers, but as landowners, they say. We are here by authority of the court. We pick the tea in plain sight during the day and not at night. So, that it doesn't seem as though we are stealing. We are the true owners of the farm. More than 100 residents are occupying 350 acres of land they say was gifted to them in 1986 by Eastern Produce Kenya, or EPK. The firm, majority owned by London-listed Camellia PLC, says the gift was for 202 acres. But the local Kimasas farmers' collective claims that all 550 acres belong to them. The standoff follows several violent incidents at estates in Kenya, the world's fourth-leading tea producer. According to the Kenya Tea Growers Association, or KTGA, these incidents threaten a valuable Kenyan export industry that supports 5 million livelihoods. But several people working on land issues told Reuters the movement reflects a broader frustration with the failure to remedy colonial-era injustices. Behind the rolling green hills are modest homesteads, mud walls, hanging clothes and children’s futures rooted in contested soil. When they took away our tea farms, they settled us in tiny plots where we could barely make ends meet. They deprived us of the ability to improve the lives of our children. From 1895 to 1963, British authorities seized vast tracts of land, much of which became tea plantations, according to a 2021 UN report. Kimasas Chairman Daniel Biwott said his grandfather lived on the land before it was seized around 1905. Belonging to the third generation of EPK employees, he believes reclaiming the disputed 350 acres would right a historical wrong. Awareness of historical injustices has grown since 2010, when Kenya established the National Land Commission, or NLC, to address the issue. It found in 2019 that all 550 acres belonged to Kimasas. EPK contested that in court, saying Kimasas' evidence was forged. That same year, the NLC called on the British government to apologize to communities in Kericho County, a tea-producing area southwest of Nandi, and provide reparations. The British government has not directly responded to that call. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said it was concerned by the attacks on tea farms in Nandi and was in contact with the Kenyan authorities. Under Kenya's 2010 constitution, tea companies' previous 999-year leases were reduced to 99 years. But activists complain the government has not used its ownership of the land to extract meaningful concessions for local communities. While a former commissioner of the NLC said its effectiveness was undermined by its limited mandate and a "unholy marriage" between tea companies and the political elite. The tea companies say they comply with Kenyan law. They accuse some politicians of exploiting historical tensions. The Kenyan government did not respond to requests for comment. EPK first acquired the land in Nandi in 1948 and said that the current dispute is not over a historical land injustice, but rather a gift made on a, "willing donor, willing donee basis." As litigation proceeded, more than 200 people overran the disputed plot in August 2023 and began plucking tea. A court quickly issued an injunction, ordering them to leave. Most did, but many returned. In January, EPK said squatters attacked a company car and employees. Peter Goin is the EPK General Manager. If this is allowed, then such opportunistic situations can arise. It is a dangerous precedent that should be stopped at all costs. The firm said police haven’t enforced the injunction, and the public prosecutor’s office said any prosecutions risked interfering with the civil case. Neither responded to Reuters’ requests for comment. I am very happy that the court recognized us. Biwott though said Kimasas felt justified occupying the land because there has been no final ruling against it. God had good plans for us. Now we own it, although not fully, but we pray that we will own it one day. That is my joy.