Uasin Gishu County Assembly Speaker David Kiplagat has blamed the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri following the governments' failure to import subsidized fertilizers for farmers this year.
The Speaker who is a close ally of Deputy President William Ruto now says farmers will only buy fertilizers at a higher price than the subsidized one when Kiunjuri is out of office.
Speaking at Moiben Catholic church on Sunday, Kiplagat said the government allocated Sh4 billion to the fertilizer subsidy programme and the CS should explain why the money was not used for the benefit of the farmer.
"We want to tell Kiunjuri that if farmers can't get subsidized fertilisers, then we shall remove him from office whether he like it or not. If we shall buy fertilisers at Sh3,000, we will do so if he is out of the office," noted the Speaker who was speaking largely in a local language, Nandi.
He said once Kiunjuri vacates office, the government should provide Sh4 billion allocated in the budget to farmers. This he says, will subsidize fertilizers to Sh1,500 per 50-kilogram bag.
According to Kiplagat, the subsidy programme was pioneered by former President Mwai Kibaki when DP Ruto was a minister of Agriculture and that "as far as we are alive, this programme will not die since the government is run by people, not a machine."
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