Embattled Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri has overseen another huge loss of taxpayers’ money at the National Cereals and Produce Board.
This time the board is looking at a ksh 9 billion loss over contaminated maize in their stores which they say is unfit for human consumption.
Kiunjuri says that more than half of the maize stored in the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) silos is 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.
He told the committee that four million bags of maize were illegally imported into the country in 2017. Kiunjuri said a total of 10 million bags were imported into the country yet the government had gazetted the importation of 6 million bags.
The CS further told the committee that the government is caught between a rock and a hard place on what to do with the maize which has already cost taxpayers Ksh.9 billion.
“There is an argument between the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and NCPB on what should happen to the maize that is deemed unfit for human consumption,” said Kiunjuri.
“If the maize came in October last year, its very worrying that we could get a destruction order for even 50% of the maize. This means I have to get a big broom and sweep NCPB.”
The new revelation comes only months after DPP Noordin Haji opened up corruption cases against senior NCPB staff over the sh 1.9 billion maize scandal.
NCPB is on the spot over some Sh1.9 billion paid to traders who supplied it with huge quantities of maize at the expense of farmers.
Officials said 18 traders colluded with top managers of the board and this saw the billions of shillings paid to them in a month. NCPB Managing Director Newton Terer resigned in May after Dr Lesiyampe questioned the dealings at the Parastatal.
.The matter had been under investigation in the wake of farmers’ complaints of non-payment of Sh1.9 billion for produce delivered to NCPB depots.
An internal ministry report identified 18 unscrupulous traders, suspected to have links with powerful people who benefited from the payout.
The report laid bare the rot at the NCPB, exposing how well-connected cartels are minting billions at the expense of farmers.