Kiunjuri: 62 to face charges over maize scandal
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri responds to questions from members of the National Assembly's Agriculture and Livestock committee, on an audit at the NCPB and challenges in the sector, November 6, 2018. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
At least 226 individuals had their payments suspended pending investigations.
This was after allegations that some traders took advantage of the price of Sh3,200 per 90kg bag that the government offered farmers, to supply maize to the NCPB.
Kiunjuri said the EACC found the 62 individuals culpable after concluding its investigations.
About 62 individuals who irregularly supplied maize to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), and were paid millions of shillings, will be charged in court.
This is according to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mwangi Kiunjuri, who said the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) found the individuals culpable after concluding investigations.
90 CLEARED
At least 226 individuals had their payments suspended pending investigations.
This was after allegations that some traders took advantage of the price of Sh3,200 per 90kg bag that the government offered farmers, to supply maize to the NCPB.
However, the EACC zeroed in on 152 traders in the investigations that saw 90 cleared.
“We expect the EACC to take those found culpable to court. Those cleared will have their payments,” Mr Kiunjuri told the Sunday Nation on Saturday,
This latest development could be a big boost for the minister, who has been the subject of a barrage of criticism for the mess he inherited at the ministry in February when he was transferred from the devolution docket.
Mr Willy Bett, now Kenya’s High Commissioner to India, was the CS at the time the suspicious supplies and payments were made.
By the time Mr Bett was leaving, the NCPB had already finished taking maize.
TRICKERY
In September, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa said traders posed as genuine farmers and received money irregularly.
Ten traders pocketed about Sh2 billion, with one pocketing almost a half a billion for supplying over Sh200,000 bags.
President Uhuru Kenyatta earlier questioned this, saying that even with his vast land, he cannot produce more than 200,000 bags of maize.
With another harvesting season on, Mr Kiunjuri said he will tour Western and Rift Valley regions, the largest maize growing areas in the country, on Wednesday to ascertain the conditions of NCPB stores and ensure the situation does not recur.
“After the tour, I will issue a comprehensive statement on measures the government has taken to cushion peasant farmers from exploitation by traders and middlemen,” the CS said. "We are going to ensure that we only buy maize from the right people.”
The government has announced a buying price of Sh2,300 per 90kg bag of maize compared to the Sh3,200 if offered in the last harvesting season.
