MPs direct KNTC to ensure imported affordable food reach vulnerable households

MPs tour KNTC's warehouses in Mombasa to inspect the shipment of rice. [Robert Menza, Standard]

A National Assembly committee wants the Kenya National Trading Corporation to increase its distribution lines to ensure imported food reaches vulnerable households.

Ships with rice imported under the government's programme to stabilise prices of essential consumer goods have started to arrive in Mombasa.

On Thursday, MPs toured KNTC's warehouses in Mombasa to inspect the shipment of rice which is part of the affordable essential consumer goods that will be distributed.

The Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives said the corporation should increase its delivery lines to enable it to meet the demands of vulnerable families.

"As representatives of the people, we want a system put in place to ensure the vulnerable people in the villages benefit from this project," said committee chairman James Gakuya.

The Embakasi North MP said KNTC must ensure the distribution channel is well mapped to safeguard the interest of the consumers at the grassroots.

Apart from supplying edible oils, beans, and rice, the committee suggested that KNTC should also buy more locally sourced goods.

KNTC officials said they are already buying rice from farmers in Mt Kenya and Western. Gakuya said the committee sought to understand from KNTC the process and challenges encountered in the programme.

The MPs were taken through the warehouses in Shimanzi by KNTC company secretary Jesca Nyamwaya.

Aldai MP Maryanne Keitanny, Committee Vice-chair, said the 200,000 distribution channels being used by KNTC to supply essential goods across the country are inadequate.