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High cost of flour inhuman, say MPs
A customer buys maize flour at a Nairobi supermarket on Wednesday. A steady supply of the commodity was reported in major retail outlets ending a week of shortage that had pushed up prices to Sh120 per packet last week. By Wednesday, a packet was being sold at between Sh95 and Sh98 a packet. Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE
Mr Mbadi said Agriculture minister William Ruto should have substantiated because he had complained of the same in the recent past.
“I find it difficult to apologise because these people are here. I cannot apologise because they are Members of Parliament,” he said before being thrown out by Mr Ethuro for the rest of the evening.
Mr Mbadi was supported by Regional Authorities Development minister Fred Gumo and assistant minister Ayiecho Olweny.
Mr Ruto denied the claims that some MPs have been given allocations by the National Cereals and Produce Board on the basis of letters received from his ministry and challenged any member with information to volunteer it.
Issued a letter
As far as he was concerned, he said, no MP was a miller. “My ministry has not issued a letter to any member to be allocated maize.
I want to challenge anyone who has information that a member has been given a letter by a PS in my ministry or any official to state it here”.
MPs who contributed to the motion accused the Government of doing nothing as food prices skyrocketed. Some urged the State to intervene and save Kenyans from the crisis.
Contributors were of the shared opinion that the Government was not worth its name if it could not cushion Kenyans from the pangs of hunger being felt in many a household.
“Middlemen have exploited and impoverished Kenyans as the Government watches. Have we lost sensitivity? Is the love for money so great that we cannot avoid it irrespective of who suffers?” asked Dr David Eseli (Kimilili, Ford Kenya).
Assistant Minister Richard Onyonka said the Government was inconsiderate to the poor. “We do not treat our poor people well,” he said.
Dr Simiyu urged the Speaker of the National Assembly to direct the parliamentary committee on Agriculture and the Public Investments Committee to get to the root of the crisis.
“They should sink their teeth deep into this. We cannot allow a situation whereby some Kenyans go without food as others are laughing all the way to the banks,” he said.
And Mr Charles Kilonzo (Yatta, ODM-K) said that the food crisis was an indication that the Grand Coalition Government had failed.
He cited a scathing attack on Government policies by Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka as an example of a divided Cabinet.
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In the developed countries farmers have their cost of production highly subsidised by the govt. why not in kenya? what happened to large scale farming, irrigation etc? there is a lot of idle land also, why cant it be converted into farming land? shd we also reduce cash crop farming becos it doesnt fetch much? where are the agriculturists to advise this nation? uuuh shida!
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Unga is no longer a necessity, it's a luxury! Any one making windfall profits over this grim situation will have a curse over their heads for generations. How dumb does it get?
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stop games where is kibaki na raila. why let the poor mwananchi suffer at the expense of this greedy MPS do some man.i hope all kenyans remember this fools elected now, come next election.PLEASE vOTE SEND THEM ALL HOME nobody should remain.
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