Deputy President William Ruto when he spoke in Kakamega on Thursday. [Photo: William Ruto/ facebook.com]
Deputy President William Ruto has accused National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga of being insincere about the maize flour shortage Kenya is facing.
Ruto said Kenya encountered a similar situation when Raila was prime minister but had chosen to remain silent about his former administration’s failure to cushion Kenyans against food crises.Raila served as prime minister during the grand coalition government between 2008 and 2013 following an accord he signed with President Mwai Kibaki after the disputed 2007 presidential election that led to Post Election Violence.“This is not the first time Kenya is running short of maize,” Ruto said at a rally in Kakamega on Thursday.“That man who speaks in parables has never told us what happened when he was prime minister. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 there was a crisis of maize and maize flour in the country. But has he said anything to that effect?”Raila has been categorical the current maize flour shortage was deliberately caused by cartels within government who are out to make a kill by hoarding the product and selling it at exorbitantly high prices.He recently claimed some senior government officials exported maize from the National Cereals and Produce Board in Eldoret to a neighbouring country. The maize, he said, was latter shipped in the disguise that it was imported from Mexico.Raila also wants Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett to resign over his failure to transform the agricultural sector- a development he argues is to blame for the current food crisis.Maize flour prices hit a record Sh153 in April for a two-kilogram packet before falling to the current Sh90 following the importation of maize.