Cabinet okays cancellation of Ksh 6.8B coffee farmers’ debt

 

unplucked Coffee berries

The Cabinet sanctioned the write-off of historical debts amounting to Ksh 6.8 billion owed by coffee farmers.

The Cabinet has given the Ministry of Cooperatives to commence the process of settling the debt which farmers owe to various coffee cooperatives and other creditors.

Before settling the debts, the creditors have been directed to submit a list of farmers who owe them money as well as other supporting documents that will facilitate debt payment to the ministry.

“Any fraudulent or fictitious claims will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” Cabinet Office warned in a despatch released Thursday.

The Cabinet further approved divesture from six companies, through the sale shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

The six companies are East African Portland Cement (EAPC), Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Housing Finance Company of Kenya, Stanbic Holdings, Liberty Kenya Holdings and Eveready East Africa.

The government holds 25.3pc shares in EAPC while National Social Security Funds holds 27pc.

The government targets to offload 3.36pc of its shareholding in NSE, 2.41pc in Housing Finance, 1,1pc in Stanbic Holdings, 0.9pc in Liberty Kenya Limited and 17.2pc shareholding it has in Eveready EA through the Kenya Development Corporation (KDC).

By Ronald Owili