By WMW
A major leadership shake-up has hit KTDA Holdings Ltd following the ouster of National Chairman Geoffrey Chege Kirundi and National Vice Chairman Omweno James Ombasa.
Kirundi, who also served as Director for Zone 3, and Ombasa, Director for Zone 11, were removed from their board leadership positions in changes that now see Enos Njeru, Director for Zone 6, assume the role of National Chairman. Njeru served as the national chairman before he was controversially replaced by Kirundi in 2024.
Engineer Samson Mosonik Kipkoech Menjo, Director for Zone 9, has also been elevated to the national leadership team as the vice chairman of the board.
The changes mark yet another transition at KTDA Holdings, a farmer-owned company that provides management services to 54 tea factory companies across the country.
KTDA traces its roots to the former Kenya Tea Development Authority, a state corporation established in 1964 to promote smallholder tea farming.
In 2000, it was privatized and restructured into a private company owned by tea farmers through their factory companies.
Today, KTDA supports over 650,000 smallholder farmers, offering services in tea processing, value addition, marketing, financial services and input supply. It also manages subsidiaries involved in power generation, insurance, and warehousing, making it one of the most influential players in Kenya’s tea sector.
Leadership at KTDA is organized through regional zones, with directors elected by factory companies to represent farmers’ interests at the national board level.
Board changes often attract attention due to the agency’s central role in determining tea prices, payment structures and strategic direction for the multibillion-shilling industry.
The latest restructuring is expected to influence governance and strategic priorities at a time when the tea sector continues to face challenges including fluctuating global prices, rising production costs and calls for greater transparency in management.
During his leadership as KTDA chairman, Mr. Njeru guided the launch of Chai Gold, a value-addition venture developed in partner ship with KETEPA.
The initiative sought to move farmers further up the value chain, signalling a strategic shift toward domestic processing and giving smallholders a rare chance to earn a larger share of prof its that have historically been captured abroad.
He has pushed factories to embrace transparent accounting systems, encouraged agronomy programs aimed at improving leaf quality and sup ported initial mechanization efforts in processing plants hampered by outdated equipment.
Under his watch, extension officers widened their reach, delivering routine field demonstrations, soil-bealth evaluations and financial-fituracy raining to farmers in remote clusters.
Mr. Njeru has also been a consistent champion for farmer voices in national agricultural discussions. He has pressed for prompt disbursement of bonus payments, urged government agencies to reduce administrative delays that slow down export clearances and hacked smallbolder cooperatives seeking fairer transport and insurance arrangements.
Across many tea-producing communities, he is credited with backing small-scale but highly impactful infrastructure projects, ranging from grading feeder roods to rehabilitating factory water points and helping farmers access seedlings for higher-yielding tea varieties.
These steady improvements have supported income stability in areas where family livelihoods often depend heavily on green-leaf prices. Collectively, his work reflects a development philosophy grounded in practical, on-the-ground action: strengthening institutions that farmers depend on, expanding access to skills and technology, and ensuring that more value is returned to the producera who run the economy.