The decision by the US mega chain not to buy Kenya’s coffee directly has put the DP in a silly position after he went public at a church function to declare that there are ongoing talks between President William Ruto, himself, and US Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, which will see American multinational coffeehouse Starbucks start sourcing their coffee directly from the Kenyan farmer
By The Weekly Vision
The much-awaited reforms in the coffee sector spearheaded by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua are in trouble after Starbucks, the US mega-chain, decided not to buy its coffee directly from Kenyan producers. This is a big setback for the deputy president and the Kenyan coffee farmer who has been pushing for direct coffee sales to the international market.
Just recently, the reforms suffered a huge setback after Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi suspended plans by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) to issue direct sales permits to four companies, namely Sustainable Management Services, Kenya Co-Operative Exporters Kenya Ltd., Iceberg Movers Enterprises Ltd., and Coffee Management Services.
In our previous exposé, we authoritatively reported that the creation of the Kenya Coffee Exporters Cooperative Union, a fully owned subsidiary of the Cooperative Bank of Kenya, was a plot and a scheme by the bank to sabotage the coffee reforms in the country. This is one of the entities for which CS Linturi, in a letter to AFA acting director general Willis Audi, ordered the suspension of their permit.
The decision by the US mega chain not to buy Kenya’s coffee directly has put the DP in a silly position after he went public at a church function to declare that there are ongoing talks between President William Ruto, himself, and US Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, which will see American multinational coffeehouse Starbucks start sourcing their coffee directly from the Kenyan farmer. The DP made the revelation last Sunday during a church service in Nyeri County, where he spoke of a deliberate plan to revamp the coffee sector in the country for the benefit of farmers as well as to cure the ailing economy.
While promising coffee farmers that it is just a matter of time before they begin to benefit from the ongoing coffee reforms, he stated that for the longest time, Kenya has been trading its coffee to Europe through brokers, yet America, who are bigger coffee consumers, in his view, has a ready market for their product.
The decision by Starbucks has caught Mr. Gachagua unawares, more so after he was quoted saying, “I thank the President; he spoke with ambassador Meg Whitman, and she has planned coffee buyers in America called Starbucks to come here and meet the president and me so that they will be buying our coffee directly,” he said.
DP Gachagua has blamed powerful coffee cartels, claiming at some point that they attempted to bribe him. He is also on record complaining that the people who buy our coffee are not Americans but local and European cartels. He is also on record having complained that there is one country that sells the most coffee in the world, yet they have no single coffee plant. He referred to the country as a broker and said that the coffee reforms would kick them out of brokerage.
The second-in-command further stated that by getting rid of the brokers, Kenya would be able to achieve a permanent and seamless deal with the U.S.
