New maize scandal as Ruto is grilled

• Grain worth Sh276m now being probed as House team quizzes minister for 4 hours

A fresh controversy has broken involving 6,500 tonnes of maize detained at the port by the Kenya Bureau of Standards.

The bureau, which is lawfully mandated to ensure the quality of everything that the public consumes, has declared the maize unfit for human consumption.

But other competent government agencies, including the Government Chemist and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, say there is absolutely nothing wrong with the maize.

Now a source close to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is alleging that it is all part of a clever plan to sell the maize, worth Sh276 million, at a throwaway price as animal feed.

Political survival

The buyer will almost certainly mill it and sell it as ordinary flour at a neat profit, according to the source, who cannot be named without compromising his position.

The new revelations come as Agriculture minister William Ruto, who is fighting for political survival, was questioned by MPs for four hours at Continental House on Monday—from 3pm to 7pm.

The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture is trying to get to the bottom of the maize scandal which has rocked the cereals board and put Mr Ruto’s career in jeopardy.

Some of his colleagues in the Cabinet have been asking for his resignation and corruption investigators have been called to investigate NCPB.

Also summoned by the MPs were top officials of Kebs and Kephis as well as Agriculture PS Romano Kiome.

The Kephis team, however, was not grilled on Monday but their interviews were pushed to another day. NCPB was represented by lawyers, their technocrats.

The maize, imported from South Africa late last year, has been lying at the port even as 10 million people suffer food shortages. The price of a two-kilogramme packet of maize flour is retailing at a high of Sh120 in most parts of the country.

Kephis, the Government Chemist and Kebs were on Monday still not in agreement on whether the maize should be released to the consumer, three months later.

Two private companies have certified the maize, part of an 8,100-tonne consignment bought by the cereals board, as fit to eat.

The Nation learnt that NCPB, on the advise of Kebs, had declined to have the maize off-loaded and wanted it shipped back to South Africa “based on the level of discoloration.’’