A team of MPs from the Rift-Valley has threatened to lead street protests on Monday if the Government fails to release Sh1.4 billion to pay maize farmers.
The leaders said that since the last harvest, farmers have struggled to get payment for the produce they delivered to National Cereals and Produce Board.
MPs Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills), Silas Tiren (Moiben), Joshua Kandie (Baringo Central) and Wiper’s Sammy Seroney (nominated) claimed the first batch of payments went to brokers leaving out genuine farmers.
“If by Monday they will have not paid the farmers, we will organize massive demonstrations in major towns in maize growing zones. We will bring farmers to the streets of Kitale, Moi’s Bridge, Eldoret, Kapsabet, Nandi Hills, Nakuru and all other maize growing areas,” said Keter at Parliament building yesterday.
The MPs accused National Treasury CS Henry Rotich and his Agriculture counterpart Mwangi Kiunjuri of lying to farmers that money will be released to their accounts by Tuesday this week.
“Farmers are about to make drastic decisions that will not be good to the country. They are tired of being cheated that they will be paid for maize they delivered to NCBP in January,” said Tiren.
Kiunjuri last week announced that farmers will start receiving payments amounting to Sh1.4 billion for deliveries made to NCPB between October 2017 and April 2018.
He attributed the delay in payments to lack of funds, ongoing verification of the farmers and incapacitation of the board of the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) that is supposed to make the payments.
“We were not able to pay our farmers because the maize that was brought to the NCPB exceeded the amount of money budgeted. And therefore it was compulsory for the government to go through the budget system and then allocate the funds for us to be able to pay the farmers,” said Kiunjuri.
The SFR board’s term was renewed last week through a gazette notice with Kiunjuri indicating that all verified farmers who supplied their produce to the government will been paid their dues by end of this week.
“We see this as a deliberate attempt to frustrate local farmers to create room for future maize imports. We saw the NCPB pay merchants and cartels that imported and supplied maize from Mexico, Brazil, Uganda and Tanzania and got paid a day or two after deliveries yet farmers were never paid,” said Keter.
The CS said the Sh1.4 billion provided by the government will cover 61 per cent of pending payment for farmers.
