A tomato farmer from Nyamira County has now blasted the county government for allegedly stage-managing his samples in Meru during the devolution conference to showcase the prowess of the county in farming.
According to Mr James Mokaya, who spoke to this reporter, Governor John Nyagarama called ordering him to give his team 12 tomatoes for sampling but has never received any payment.
“I followed devolution conference keenly and was shocked to hear Nyamira County talking of a tomato greenhouse they own. They went ahead to showcase my samples claiming that they were their produce,” Mokaya said.
“In my knowledge, the county government does not own a greenhouse as they were saying. They took my 12 tomato samples but never paid me back after the exhibition. This is fraud of the highest order,” Mokaya added, threatening to seek compensation.
County secretary Erick Onchana, however, could not deny or accept the allegations but insisted that the county government through the Ministry of Agriculture was determined to improve the sector to increase productivity.
“We I am not aware of the allegations unless I investigate. What I know though, the county government is currently empowering horticulture farming and we want to see improved productivity. Our agricultural officers are out there doing their best to help our farmers gain optimum,” he said in a telephone call.
Efforts to seek comment from the department of agriculture were futile since the chief officer and county executive committee member of the said docket were reported away from Nyamira for official duties elsewhere.