NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 27 – Trade, Investment and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has given maize farmers 72 hours to release the maize they are hoarding, failure to which the government will go ahead and import maize.
Speaking during a burial of journalist Everlyn Ogutu in Kitale, Kuria blamed farmers for hoarding maize as they anticipate selling them at a higher price.
He vowed that the government will not prevent millers from importing the maize into the country if farmers will continue to hold on to the produce.
The CS has also asked the farmers to release the produce to the market as soon as possible.
“For those who have the maize and they don’t want to release it is upon them. On Tuesday we will have a cabinet meeting and if we are given way forward, we will do the necessary on the importation and so you have like 72 hrs to release the maize before the cabinet hold their meeting,” he said.
“I have not even signed anything yet and now I see some are releasing the maize, please continue with the same spirit.”
Kuria made this remark in response to Saboti MP Caleb Hamisi, who had attended the funeral and warned the Kenya Kwanza government against importing the grain, stating that it would hurt the many farmers in the country.
“You know Transzoia is known as the breadbasket of Kenya, but we have the basket, we don’t have the bread inside. Now you even want to steal the basket,” Hamisi said.
“Here you are CS, maize farming is the strength for all farmers. But if you take an initiative to bring maize from another place, you’ll be hurting the farmers here in Transzoia.”
This importation program coincides with the prospect of starvation facing Kenyans in 45 of the country’s 47 counties as a result of the continuing drought, which has hampered the growth of food crops.
“As government we were not elected for a specific area, nor were we elected for GMO, we were elected to look after the needs of Kenyans, GMO is a topic I wouldn’t want us even to discuss, if the maize flour comes down to sh 120 trust me you’ll not hear me speaking about it,” he said
Kuria appeals to the farmers to show consideration and cease hoarding the maize product because there are people who are going hungry despite their refusal to sell it.
“It is not that we are doing this because we want, we don’t want to lose even a single life because of hunger because we will be blamed by the generation present and that will come and we will also be in danger of hunger,” he said.
The government has responded quickly to the proposal to import GMO corn, but the action has caused a rift in the political class, with some MPs alleging farmers had already begun harvesting their maize.
