Posted on July, 22, 2019 at 09:45 am
By STAR EDITOR Editorial
Something stinks in the Mwangi Kiunjuri-led Ministry of Agriculture. It is a ministry that over the years has been notorious for high-end maize import scandals.
Agriculture is a strategic ministry. It is about the livelihood of over 60 per cent of Kenyans. More importantly, it is about food. Yet hardly a year passes without a scandal of momentous scale being exposed in the ministry.
There is an urgent need to establish the amount of maize in our strategic food reserve. Sadly, we have a minister who seems to have his facts wrong on the amount of maize in the country.
Maize farmers say they have enough stocks to last the country until the next harvest. Their views are echoed by the Cereals Growers Association.
The pull and push over maize is likely to open a window for dubious imports to the detriment of consumers.
The situation has not been made any better by the National Assembly where there have been allegations of money for maize imports being withdrawn secretly from the Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund.
This year has been bad for maize farmers and the country may have to import the cereal. But the taxpayer needs to be assured that another dark hole has not been created to empty his pocket.
Source: The Star