Maize scandal at NCPB has raised a hot debate with some Kenyans linking it to Deputy President William Ruto, but are they sure with his involvement? Well, DP Ruto has been named among the people who had tenders at the NCPB, with the latest details showing that his family owned farm supplied maize at the board to a tune of Ksh. 20.8 million.
The senate on Wednesday said that there are state officials who should be prosecuted for being behind the flooding of imported maize leading to price distortions.
It named Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and Kenya’s High Commissioner to India Willy Bett, the immediate former Agriculture CS, saying they should be held to account for the Gazette Notices which opened a floodgate for unscrupulous dealers to deliver maize to the National Strategic Reserve.
“The two CSs must take responsibility for the Gazette Notices for the importation. And the CS agriculture should develop regulations and guidelines on importation of maize and other food crops, and table them before the Senate within 45 days, “ the Senate ad hoc committee says in its report tabled in the Senate on Tuesday by Bungoma’s Moses Wetang’ula.
“The crisis that led to the influx of duty-free maize was a ploy by both the public and private sector players to profiteer from distortion of the maize value chain. The Gazette Notices No 3575 dated April 13, 2017, No 6398 dated July 3, 2017 and 7248 dated July 27, 2017, were open ended and done without any valid reasons and justification,” the committee notes in the report.
It further indicates that the government’s inconsistent, incoherent policies and pronouncements on the maize matter led to massive uncontrolled importation leading to huge losses.
The committee observed that records at the Kenya Revenue Authority show that maize imported by various importers was sold to the ministry of agriculture through the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) at a profit.
Data availed by KRA showed 1,800MT of maize being imported through Malaba One Stop Border Point during the period yet during a visit to the area by the committee, it was discovered that 12,400MT was received and a further 43,100 in Busia.
“This is despite the well-known fact that Uganda is not a major maize producer which raises the possibility that the maize could have been from non EAC/COMESA region. Further, the committee noted that Kenya’s partners in the region had protested the gazette notice on duty-free maize importation,” reads the report.
According to the committee’s findings, there is no evidence that there were standards and quality checks by the Kenya Bureau of Standards at the ports of entry during the duty-free maize importation period.