Deputy President William Ruto’s allies on Tuesday brought the emotive maize debate to the Senate, accusing President Uhuru Kenyatta of punishing Rift Valley farmers to settle political scores.
They claimed that the government's decision to stop buying maize for the Strategic Food Reserve and the plan to import four million bags of the cereal are manoeuvres to cut the DP down to size.
In their apparent effort to win over the hearts of Rift Valley maize farmers, the DP foot soldiers led by the dewhipped Leader of Majority Kipchumba Murkomen, said failure by the government to cushion farmers through subsidised fertilisers is part of the sinister plot.
Rift Valley is Ruto’s political bedrock.
Murkomen, the Elgeyo Marakwet senator, and colleagues Susan Kihika (Nakuru), Benjamin Lang’at (Bomet) and Samson Cherargei (Nandi) wanted to know the rationale of importing four millions bags of maize when farmers have the grain in their stores.
The issue had been brought to the morning session by Cherargei.
“This issue of stopping the purchase of maize from farmers is more than government policy. It is politics. I have always said and I have insisted, if people have their own fights about 2022, they should leave our farmers alone,” Murkomen.
Kihika, like Murkomen, was last week stripped of her Majority Whip position for disrespecting the President - Jubilee Party leader - among other accusations.
Maize is the staple food of most Kenyans and the means of livelihood for most people in the expansive Rift Valley. Anything to do with maize in the region is a political minefield depending on the circumstance.
It was not lost to observers that the DP lieutenants could be intent on fanning disaffection against the government among residents.
Murkomen accused the President of using certain Cabinet Secretaries to bring down Ruto politically in his own backyard.
“We need to call it what it is. There have been certain Cabinet Secretaries who have been behaving in a manner like … you have to punish citizens to settle political scores,” the former Senate Majority Leader said.
He said some farmers are yet to be paid years after delivering their grain to the National Cereals and Produce Board.
“Those farmers have been profiled. Those farmers were not paid because they were linked to a particular person and then corruption was used as an excuse,” he said.
The diehard Ruto confidant has been at the forefront assailing the President, hence his removal from the plum Senate seat.
The government recently published a gazette notice allowing the importation of two million bags of white maize (for human consumption) and a similar number of yellow maize (animal feed).
Agriculture CS Peter Munya has told senators that the government projection was that the current stocks in farmers’ stores will not be sufficient at a time the county is battling calamities like the locust infestation, floods and the coronavirus.
Kihika termed the decision to import maize "stupid and immoral" and only meant to punish people from certain parts of the county.
She said the decision was questionable and implored the Senate Agriculture committee to investigate the matter.
“Whoever is making this decision, be it at the CS level, Cabinet level ... I’m not sure what level. But it seems like a stupid decision. It is a decision that is immoral if you ask me,” she said. This prompted temporary Speaker Margaret Kamar (Uasin Gishu) to warn her to be cautious with her language.
Kihika added: “When you have farmers with maize rotting in their farms but the government is proceeding to buy maize from outside the country ... either we are completely accepting corruption or we are punishing some people in certain areas because we all know where maize grows in this country.”
Lang’at questioned the reasoning behind the maize importation at a time farmers in Rift Valley are expecting a bumper harvest.
He questioned the criteria used in relief food distribution, arguing that certain parts of his county have been overlooked despite residents suffering from hunger.
“It is quite unfortunate that the Ministry of Agriculture is not ready to purchase maize and other food crops from the farmers during this particular period,” he said, adding: “Even distribution of food in this country is skewed.”
Cherargei sought to know the circumstances that led to the government’s decision to stop purchasing maize from local farmers knowing well that those farmers depended entirely on the state for market.
“The committee should state why the Ministry Agriculture is currently importing four millions bags of maize at a much higher price than that of local farmers yet they are saying they will no longer buy from local farmers,” he said.
- mwaniki fm
