Despite sinking over Sh7 billion of taxpayers’ money into the Galana Kulalu irrigation scheme, the Jubilee government has nothing to show but introduce the new housing levy that most Kenyans view as a new white elephant in the making.
The mega-project that purported to reduce food insecurity is the alleged loss of an estimated Sh5.9 billion with the downing of tools by the contractor, Green Arava of Israel.
The project has dried up River Sabaki-Galana making life difficult for thousands of residents who used to depend on the river for domestic use, agriculture and fishing. In his Big Four Agenda, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s priority is to make food available, accessible and adequate for all Kenyan citizens. The reality on the ground tells a different story.
In 2013, the Government proposed Galana Kulalu as a 1.2-million-acre irrigation project that would churn out 20 million bags of maize each year.
This would have made it the largest irrigation farm in East and Central Africa, eradicating the country’s food security challenges and making Kenya a major food exporter.
The project, situated in Kilifi and Tana River counties on land owned by the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), however appeared doomed from the start.
Initial delays caused by poor funds disbursement and the quest for a private sector partner saw the pilot phase of a 500-acre farm delayed by two years.
The Government later halved the proposed acreage from 1.2 million acres to 500,000 citing lack of adequate water, and slashed the budget from Sh14 billion to Sh7.3 billion.
The under-performance of Galana Kulalu despite the billions spent on boosting production further cast the light on the country’s perennial maize scandals, attributed to hoarding and the desire by well-connected people to make a quick shilling through cheaper imports.
Kenya had already paid Sh5.9 billion to the Israeli company that was contracted to build the farm. This money constitutes 80 per cent of the entire sum dedicated to the project.
After loosing Ksh5.9 billion in the Galana Kulalu irrigation project which would have been sufficient to build storage facilities for small scale farmers in order to reduce loss of produce like the one witnessed when maize went bad in sillos, the Jubilee administration, in the draft Budget Policy Statement for the 2019/2020 financial year, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich says the Government has opted to use part of the land for the growing of Bt cotton in efforts to revive the textile sector.