DP Ruto slams Opposition over swift maize importation remarks

Deputy President William Ruto has faulted Opposition leaders for questioning government’s expediency in importing maize to mitigate food crisis in the country.

National Super Alliance(NASA) leaders had on 12 May asked how a 30 000 ton consignment of maize from Mexico arrived just two days after Parliament passed  a supplementary budget to allow duty-free importation of maize – questions that DP Ruto rubbished, adding that the Opposition was wantonly politicising  the issue.

“When we order food, you want to it delay so that you can get something to about in you political rallies,” said Ruto.

Speaking while attending a Sunday service at PEFA Sinoko Church in Webuye – Bungoma County, the DP urged Opposition leaders to “be positive” about Kenya, reminding them that the Government has previously dealt with similar crises.

“We had a similar drought in 2008 and we imported food, in 2009 we imported food, in 2011 we imported food. There is nothing new that we haven’t dealt with,” said Ruto.

Claiming that the agriculture sector had posted record numbers during Jubilee’s tenure, Ruto said that Kenya had her highest maize yield in 2015 (42.5 million bags of maize) and 639 metric tons of sugarcane last year, 2016.

The DP urged Kenyans to focus on the long term transformation agenda of the country, terming the current food shortage as a temporary problem that will be sorted out soon.

Members of the Opposition coalition have slammed the government over the importation of maize from Mexico, hinting that the government had partnered with cartels to hike up maize prices through an engineered shortage.

ODM’s Opiyo Wandayi demanded closure of the maize procurement plan, asking whether a section of importers had privileged information of the governments plan before the zero-rating of maize imports was made public.

“At what stage did the process of importing this maize start? And if it has been imported by a private player, what privileged information did they have that the rest of the country did not have?” wondered Wandayi.

Wandayi, who is also a member of Parliamentary committee on Agriculture, wants the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett questioned over the procurement of Maize.