Nyandarua leaders cry foul over Irish potato rules implementation
REGULATION: Nyandarua County leaders have challenged the county government to look at ways of reviewing or suspending the law.
They noted that the sector which was the mainstay of the county was headed for the worst due to the law that had continued to oppress farmers, traders and transporters.
Already, a group of farmers have headed to court seeking to have the law suspended on grounds that there was no public participation.
According to the farmers, the penalties introduced were excessive, intimidating and unconstitutional and posed the risk of impoverishing genuine farmers from the county.
Former deputy governor of Nyandarua, Waithaka Mwangi warned that the harsh Act could lead to a drop in potato production.
He termed the Act as retrogressive, adding that the farmers input had not been considered, leading to the current impasse.
“We are asking the County government to engage other potato growing counties and the national government so that this law can be suspended,” he said.
Speaking in Engineer town, Mwangi noted that the farmers were living in fear due to the harassment by the County enforcement officers and the police over tens of rules that they were supposed to follow.
Punitive laws
“The law requires we register and get licences from the county to ferry the produce among other punitive laws and this is killing the sector that employs thousands,” he said on Friday.
Mwangi who is also the former MP for Kinangop cried foul over the move to sell the multi-billion Midland vegetable processing plant in Njabini.
“This plant was meant to process and sell the farmers’ produce but some senior people in the county have sold it,” he said.
Simon Kanyingi, one of the political leaders in the county accused some international companies of supporting the Act so that they could supply genetic seeds.
“This Act is subjecting farmers and traders to financial loss while the implementation agencies that include police and county officers are harassing and enforcing punitive fines,” he said.
