Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri should resign over the Sh740 million maize scandal to pave way for investigations and a cleanup of the mess that is already characteristic of the sector.
The embezzlement of funds at major government institutions has been on the rise in the recent past and Kiunjuri should be compelled to resign completely as an example to the rest.
He should not be allowed to hold the office any longer considering the magnitude of its importance to the whole country.
Maize is a staple food as the more than 40 million people consume it or its products at least once in every week.
As such it should be under the stewardship of the most open breed of leaders who are willing to stand up and come clear on anything that happens.
I find Kiunjuri to lack that trait. As a country, we are dependent on the agriculture sector and its flourishing is directly impacted on the population in any one way or the other.
Its downfall has just about the same effects.
The paying of the massive sum of money to traders who are not really farmers and coming from confusing geographic locations should be the last mistake the ministry makes as someone who can handle that should be brought in to replace the incompetent ones.
What makes the whole situation, even more, worse than it really sounds is that some of the traders supplied cheaply imported maize from neighboring Uganda at a time when we have our own farmers from maize-producing counties willing to do business.
4,000 farmers are just stuck with their products while influential persons take their place to supply the vital cereal to the National Cereals and Produce Board.
What’s more, farmers’ produce was rejected on the grounds of quality as the ministry opted for cheaper quality produce from elsewhere but still inflated the projected cost.
The abnormal profits paid to a select breed of ‘farmers’ that are not even known should never happen again as Kiunjuri should be made to abandon his duties and be reinstated by someone who will have some respite for the plight of farmers who work so hard to produce the white gold- maize.
There is a feeling that Kiunjuri does not probably understand how to effectively run the sector and also that he could be covering up for a lot more evil and rot that he do not want to share with the rest of the population.
Payment methods to farmers should be devised to ensure that farmers do not have to wait for too long to get their dues.
This has for a long time been the characteristic of the sector but the situation seems to worsen at the hands of CS Kiunjuri.
A new cabinet secretary should be brought in to ensure the flooding of the market with maize, some of which is imported, is well addressed and see to it that the flow of produce at the national reserve is fluid to allow for the delivery of fresh produce.
The Kenyan economy is heavily dependent on agriculture and the dependency was especially very clear as could be seen with the economical struggles that gripped the country following last years prolonged drought.
As such, the Agriculture sector should be under the stewardship of a leader who will be able to soften the ever existent corruption and ensure that farmed produce is handled in the best manner.