Ever met a man that constantly makes mistakes but still brags how he is the best yet his incompetent nature can easily be noted? Such is the case of embattled Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri.
From scandal after scandal, the CS has stayed put despite calls for him to pack and go home. I think it’s time President Uhuru Kenyatta actually “slapped” him.
After initially distancing himself from the mega 6-billion scandal at the National Cereals and Produce Board, the CS made some shocking revelations yesterday.
The CS said that 60% of Kenya’s staple food stored at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) silos is unfit for human consumption.
This means that more than more than a half of the maize stored at is toxic. Where are we therefore heading as a country?
We cannot even produce adequate food to entirely feed our ever growing population but the CS now makes revelations that maize stored at the silos are unfit for human consumption.
Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday, Mr. Kiunjuri wondered how the maize got bad yet it has been in the storage facilities for less than a year.
“For maize that was brought in a year ago, it’s not right that it’s being declared unfit for human consumption. Yet maize shelf life if well kept is 24 months,” said Kiunjuri.
Mr. Kiunjuri should stop shifting blames everytime he messes things up. As the head of the Agriculture docket, it was up to him to ensure that Maize; that was actually imported by tax payers money was kept under good conditions.
Mr. Kiunjuri should also tell us the untouchable cartels at the National Cereals board that have continued to run the cereals board dry but pocketing large sums of money at the expenses of the farmers that actually put in the hard work in the fields to ensure that the maize produce is ready for harvest and constant consumption.
These are the same cartels that import illegal maize to the country. For instance in 2017 alone, four million bags of maize were imported yet the government only ordered for 6 million. Who authorised for the extra 4 million bags? Who later pocketed the sales from the 4 million bags?
Theses are the people that make Unga prices unstable in this country. As a country that has many maize farmers, we should not be buying a packet of Unga at 100 shillings. I mean, that’s way too much. There are times that the prices hit as high as 120. With all these uncertainties in prices, it is the ordinary Kenyan that keeps suffering and not Kiunjuri and his cartels or any other politician for that matter
More shocking is the fact that the maize rotting at the cereal board’s silos cost the taxpayers kshs. 9 billion. That is 9 billion gone down the drain. What can 9 million do? a lot.
On the issue of paying farmers, Kiunjuri say’s that he has only received slightly over 2 billion since he took over the ministry and that by the time he arrived, the ministry had already received 7 billion to pay farmers.
“I came to this ministry in February this year. By the time I arrived, the ministry had already received Sh7 billion to pay farmers,” he said.
“The only money I received as Agriculture CS was Sh1 billion on May 18. More cash was sent between October 5 and October 22, bringing the total amount to Sh2.4 billion,” said Kiunjuri.
Kiunjuri said when he took over at the ministry from Willy Bett – now Kenya’s ambassador to India, he was informed that due process was followed when paying farmers in October 2017.
“The big question is, who was paid the money? When did the ministry realise it had been paying traders and not genuine farmers?” he asked.
That is the question that Kenyan’s want answered. As the CS for Agriculture, it is upon Mr. Kiunjuri to give us answers. It doesn’t matter whether he found the mess in the ministry or if the mess occureed when he was in charge.
Will you stop attending to your child because he got hurt for engaging in a dangerous game even after you warned him/her? i bet No.
It’s time Mwangi Kiunjuri acts or the President acts on him. We need answers.
Kenyans need to feed, we shall not go hungry because of some few unscrupulous individuals.