Former employees of the former Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC), who have spent nearly three decades fighting for unpaid benefits, were handed a rare glimmer of hope on Tuesday after Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and MSMEs Development, Wycliffe Oparanya, committed to a firm timeline to resolve their claims.

CS Oparanya told the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare that an Interministerial Committee bringing together the Office of the Attorney General, Ministries of Cooperatives, Labour, Agriculture and the National Treasury will convene its first meeting next week and submit findings by the end of October. The team will audit and verify the long-contested claims—valued at about KES 204 million—and recommend payments for possible inclusion in the November supplementary budget.

“We expect a supplementary budget to be processed in November and we would then appeal to this Committee to consult the National Assembly to approve the payments to the former KCC workers,” Oparanya said, signalling the most concrete step yet in a dispute that has been entangled in legal battles since the 1990s.

The session also carried a note of contrition. Oparanya, who has repeatedly skipped previous committee invitations, including a formal summons, had been fined KES 500,000 by the Committee for his failure to appear. On Tuesday, he apologised profusely, citing various reasons for his absence and appealed to senators to waive the penalty. After heated deliberations, the Committee agreed to lift the fine, clearing the air for forward progress.

Labour CS Alfred Mutua, also present at the meeting, proposed that a Cabinet Memo be drawn up to secure Executive backing, ensuring funds are set aside “in the spirit of equity and social justice.” 

Senators, led by Chair Julius Murgor (West Pokot), Sen (Rtd) Justice Stewart Mazdayo (Kilifi), Sen Seki Lenku (Kajiado), Sen Alexander Mundigi (Embu), Sen Miraj Abdullahi, Sen Joe Nyutu (Murang'a) and Sen Beth Syengo pressed Oparanya to adhere to the timelines, cautioning that any further delay would compound the suffering of the ageing petitioners—many of whom have remained unemployed since 1997.

The Attorney-General had already advised the government to pursue an out-of-court settlement, noting that while liabilities of the old KCC were transferred to the New KCC, dues owed to workers were excluded, leaving them stranded in a decades-long legal limbo.

The Interministerial Committee is expected to table its report to the Senate Committee on or before 6th November 2025.